Jaune Arc Big Brother
by NewProspect94
Summary: Jaune owed a lot to his 7 little sisters so it only seems fair he learns how to become a huntsman so he can protect them. But when problems from his past threaten his new life its time to be the man he couldn't before. A man chooses after all, he chooses to protect his friends. Watch out, Big Brother is loose. Rated M for gore, language and graphic scenes. Crossover with Bioshock.
1. Prologue

**Hi everybody, thank you for taking the time to click on this story. This is my first time trying to write a story on this site rather than just reading them all and not contributing to it, soooooo please be gentle?**

 **This story will not be perfect, there will properly be mistakes in spelling and grammar and it might confuse you at times, if it does let me know in the reviews and I will fix that**

 **Any way as the title implies this is a crossover of RWBY and Bioshock, I am nether Rooster Teeth or 2K Games so I own none of the characters, locations, etc. (even **if I want to)****

 **Now with that out of the way, let's begin**

* * *

 _The world of Remnant wasn't always the land of chaos it is known for today. It was once a Beautiful,_ _lustrous and bountiful world filled to the brim with wonders and marvels that the current population could only_ _imagine, however due to an unknown event that shook the very foundations of the world. It is now a tough and cruel land for humanity._ _The reason is that the world was now plagued by a great evil, a threat that put both humans and faunus alike at risk of extinction. A menace that no matter how hard it was fought against the tide of black never receded._

 _The_ _ **Grim**_

 _A force that took on many different forms and sizes, from the simple beowolf and ursa to the mammoth sized Goliath. From the avian nevermore and griffon to the aquatic_ _leviathan. No corner of the world was safe from the destruction and death that the grim caused. No man, women or child was spared from attack from the evil sweeping the land. It truly looked like the grim would complete its goal and wipe out humanity for good._

 _That was until Aura and Dust was discovered._

 _Aura is the manifestation of the soul of every living thing that makes its home in Remnant. This life force became the shield that humanity needed, protecting them in battle and giving them a chance to survive against the grim, and when people started to unlock their semblances, abilities their aura granted them that were unique to each and every individual, humanity was finally ready to fight back._

 _But if aura was the shield, then dust was the sword, no one knows where these strange crystals came from but man figured out they could be used for practically anything, fuel for engines, components for computers, nearly all technology nowadays has dust integrated into its design. But back then and still to this day the main use for dust is for weapons, its natural potency against the grim and modern uses in bullet cartridges allowed man to truly fight back the black tide with nature's wraith in hand to give them the edge._

 _Now with a more even footing humanity was able to come together. They started to build small settlements that grew into the great cities we see today. These great cities allowed humanity to protect those who could not fight and helped them to start reclaiming the land away from the grim. As of now 4 cities stand as pillars of success for the world to see leading their respective kingdoms of which they share their name._

 _ **Atlas:**_ _the tundra of the north, most well known for its technology and military might_

 _ **Mistral:**_ _the lands of the east, housing huge diverse cultures and ecosystems_

 _ **Vacuo:**_ _the deserts of the west, the barren wastelands shaping the hardiest of people_

 _ **Vale:**_ _the central mass of remnant. Considered the safest of all the 4 kingdoms due to its natural defences_

 _At this current moment of time the land of remnant sits in an era of peace. The 4 kingdoms having only 80 years ago ended a bloody 10 year war known only as "the Great War". A war that ravaged the world and allowed the Grim to take over much of the land that humanity worked so hard to claim for its own, including some pieces of land that to this day have still not been reclaimed. After a massive conflict like that it would make sense that the people of remnant would have learned from this mistake. That they would of united together against the Grim and stopped fighting each other._

 _Unfortunately it would seem that humanity struggles to learn its lesson; in truth the world of Remnant still has many problems plaguing it. On top of the Grim we have the unjust racism targeted at the faunus people for no fault of their own. This lead to the Faunus Rights Revolution in a bid for the faunus to gain equal rights and when the faunus were still treated like second rate citizens, From the ashes of the revolution The White Fang emerged. Starting as a peaceful movement dedicated to gaining faunus equal rights they have now_ _metamorphosized into a terrorist_ _organization, destroying human shops and business and Unleashing planned terrorist attacks in populated areas with the sole objective being the lost of human life._

 _But the biggest threat to humanity is only known by a select few, a secret_ _organization dedicated to the protection of human and faunus life from the evils they don't even know exist, stopping kingdom wide disasters before they even come into play._

 _It is a conversation between 2 of these members, 15 years before our main events that this story can truly begin._

* * *

Beacon Academy. It is 1 of the 4 academies where the people of Remnant send their future prospective huntsmen and huntresses to train. At these academies they will be imbedded with the knowledge they will require to fight the grim and the scum of the earth that would threaten and endanger innocent life. The academy is shaped like a castle of sorts, spires and arches and ancient architecture make up the shape of the building with a mix of both medieval and modern design for the interior. In the dead centre of the academy striking an imposing figure is a central tower, a feature you could see anywhere on the grounds. This is the Cross Continental Transmit Tower or the CCT tower for short. 1 of 4 towers that allowed the 4 kingdoms to communicate with each other. But this tower serves another purpose, a purpose we are more interested in. At the very top of the tower it serves as the office of the headmaster of Beacon, an office where they can deal with any paperwork they need to sort out, a place that they can store important information away from prying eyes or a calm private room that can be the location for a very secret and confidential conversation... Like it is now

Two men sat on opposite sides of the main desk of the office gazed at each other with calm and neutral looks. No noise betrayed the silence of the room save for the constant rhythm of the giant gears that power the clock face on the outside of the tower. To an outsider looking in it would seem like a simple pause of a conversation, but to anyone inside the room they would be able to feel the tension between the two beings like the calm before the storm. Considering whom the two men were a fight was unlikely but if one did break out then lord Monty help anything caught in the crossfire.

The first of the men in the room looked old at first glance, but a more detailed look would prove that observation false. He had a mop of silver hair (bordering on gray) on his head and a set of stylish glasses set in from of his brown eyes. His attire consisted of a black blazer jacket and dress trousers, a green dress shirt underneath and a green scarf around his neck. In one hand was his ever present cup of coffee that he never seemed to part from, griping the handle a little more tightly than needed, his other hand on the desk had been inching unconsciously toward his walking cane leaning next to the desk, a walking cane that despite always being seen leaning upon it, a trained eye could tell that he only did so as a charade. This man is named Professor Ozpin, current headmaster of beacon academy and arguably the strongest hunter alive at the moment.

The second of the men could be considered to have a strange duality about him. His brown quality suit and black smart slicked back hair was at contrast with the intense stare more befitting a veteran that had seen too much bloodshed in his time, his dark brown dress shoes and white handkerchief in his breast pocket spoke of a business man while the calluses on his hands and the scar that slashed against his right cheek spoke of a hardened warrior that had survived countless battles, even the man's weapons showed this split. To the left leaning against the table was what one could consider a gentlemen's choice of armament, a seemingly innocent looking 9-iron golf club make from a mixture of high quality metals and engraved wooden finishes, a club that the man had named (while he was drunk but then had it engraved onto the head of the club) 9-Irony. But on the right sat upon the desk was a more traditional weapon of a warrior. A simple looking longsword with a grey cross guard and a blue handle, the blade that sat in its sheathe on the desk was named Crocea Mors. The weapon of the man's great grandfather passed down in the family line. The man that was of such a divide of fighter and aristocrat was named Andrew Arc. Former team member of Ozpin's, the reason why the title of strongest hunter was argued in the first place and a man who had worked himself a fortune from the ground up. He could truly be considered one of the strongest men alive, capable of achieving anything he set is mind to.

Except changing Ozpin's mind when it is set on something, it seems.

"Ozpin, we have known each other for years. We have offered each other advice with our problems many a time. Why is it that now in my most vulnerable state of being you refuse to see the incompetence that the council calls protection for what it truly is and instead stand idly by while they ravage the city like how buzzards picking at a corpse?"

Ozpin took a drink of his coffee to help calm his nerves as speaking with his former team member could be very difficult when he was incensed. Andrew was known for a sound mind, even when they had been paired up as a team in their youth. While Ozpin may have been made leader of their team all those years ago he had often asked for the opinion of this partner as he would offer valuable insight that he himself might have missed. This second opinion would always come from a calm mind that had put the advice through

Several layers of thought processes to make sure it was sound. However that changed when Andrew allowed his emotions to take control.

Andrew was known for generally keeping a level head no matter the situation but if you were able to make him lose his cool then he would start to listen to his heart and while his heart usually meant well it was known for coming up with plans that were very unorthodox, elaborate, impractical and very dangerous.

"I will admit that the council is flawed, that there is a lot that they need to improve on. But your plan, this idea to overthrow the council and erect a new one in our image is talk of madness Andrew."

"Is it Ozpin? Is it madness that I have finally seen that any positives the council give us no longer allow for the incompetence they constantly get away with? No Ozpin the current council is an obsolete feature that Vale no longer needs; it is time for a change of pace and a new set of faces to govern the people of Vale"

"And who would you suggest for this new council Andrew? Glynda perhaps, making me drag her from her newly appointed teaching career just to shove her onto the council board, dooming her to a lifeless job full of red tape and misery? Or how about young Mr Roman Torchwick, that young man that it seems you have taken under your wing as an apprentice. I'm sure that he would love to take on such a position before he's reached the ripe old age of 21."

"If you're done patronizing me Ozpin I have not just come up with a list of candidates without thinking about it, I have given this plan of mine careful thought and consideration and I have with me a list of the people that would make fine candidates for the council"

With this Andrew pulled out a small folded piece of paper from his inside pocket and placed it onto the table. He then looked up to Ozpin's face and stared into his eyes waiting for him to pick it up. Ozpin reached his free hand over the table, grasped the paper and brought it to the front of his face. As he put his ever present mug of coffee down and unfurled the note to read it Ozpin wondered if any names he recognised would appear, as it turns out they would.

Bill McDonagh, a well known general contractor that had worked on many of the biggest projects of Vale, Alex Sullivan, a retired but well respected chief of police, Professor Julie Langford, a botanist who's work had revolutionised plant conservation and was still breaking new grounds today. The list was filled with names like this, people that were known for long and successful services in their field, the best and brightest of the generation you could say and hardly a mention of any true politicians save for a small few. But there was one big reason this list caught Ozpin's attention

"Andrew I have some concerns about the list here, while I don't doubt their ability to address the problems council members would encounter in their respective roles, I can't help but notice that most of these names, if not all of them are either a business partner, someone in your pocket or a close friend of yours... Care to explain why?"

He looked at Ozpin with a confused face, as if the question's answer was obvious. "The council needs to be made of people that we can trust. People that we can depend on to listen to us and help when needed. We won't get that with randomly selected candidates Ozpin. These people are guaranteed to listen to reason, and will be 100% loyal..."

"To you Andrew, not our group"

"I was not aware that there was a difference Ozpin"

"There wasn't, but with this plan of yours I can't be too careful"

Andrew stood straight up after that comment, his chair screeching against the floor as his hands slammed upon the table "Damn it Ozpin! Why can't you understand that this is the best option for the kingdom of Vale? They need a council that won't throw them to the beowolf's at their leisure just to save their own skin! Why can't you see that?!"

Ozpin flew up to meet him, his cup of coffee falling from the table with a resounding smash as ceramic and coffee sprayed over the floor whilst his hands clashed against the table to match his partner " the same reason that you can't see that this plan would destroy the city of Vale! The people are this close to falling into a state of panic, the last thing we need is to cause an upheaval with a sudden change of council!"

"We can reassure them! Keep them from panicking..."

"Really Andrew? You know just as much as I how the general public think! They are like sheep, needing constant guidance in their life, and they panic as soon as any danger rears its head. Removing the council if only for a second in our current state would cause nothing but calamity!"

At this point both men were literally face to face, noses almost pressed together but neither man cared. They had both become too angry to notice. Both men were wound up tight like a cheap clockwork toy, and it would only take the wrong thing to be said to unleash them upon each other like rabid dogs.

"Well then perhaps we need to step out of the shadows and make ourselves known as the true protectors of vale instead of the council! Perhaps it's time that we took charge of running the kingdom instead and truly start making things right!"

"Now you want us to go public!? Our one advantage is that no one knows that we exist! Ignorance is bliss Andrew..."

"Then the public live in a nightmarish heaven Ozpin! They need to know what it's truly like out there! I refuse to allow those... THOSE... **PARASITES RUIN VALE!** "

"If you continue on like this Andrew it will be you who destroys vale! And I refuse to allow my city to become **JUST LIKE MT GLENN!"**

 ***CLANG***

If there had been anyone else in the room at that moment, they would have attested to seeing something akin to a pause in time. As one moment both men were simply standing there and yelling at each other's faces, but as soon as MT Glenn was mentioned both men seemed to suddenly phase into a sword/cane lock with a frozen but fierce intensity. It was as if the men had been pulled straight out of a warzone between two factions that hated each other and had simply been placed in an office.

Both men stared down at the other, their faces appearing calm on the surface but unbridled rage beneath the skin. An intense battle raged between their eyes with no clear winner in site. Two titans locked into an eternal struggle with no sign of peace on the horizon and only a promise of death and destruction to all who would get in the...

"Ozpin sir I've finished with those reports you asked me to do. Should I just leave them on the... What's going on?"

Both men were broken out of their personal battle of stares and turned their heads to the sudden new voice in the room. There walking out of a freshly closing elevator stood a young woman holding a small stack of papers across her chest. Shiny blonde hair and smart secretary like glasses framed a cautious face as she gazed at the two men locked together. Her free left hand slowly sliding down her side to her hip, where lay a simple (if slightly out of place and almost kinky) looking riding crop. This lovely lady was known as Glynda Goodwitch, current deputy head of beacon academy and currently the only thing distracting the men in the room from redecorating the wall's a lovely red colour.

"Ozpin... is everything alright?"

Ozpin only had to have a glance at his deputy to know that she was nervous, and she had every right to be. Two of the most powerful men alive were in a standoff right next to her, and it would be very likely that she would be caught in the crossfire. That thought was enough to calm him down, and it seemed that idea applied to Andrew as well. Both men turned back to each other, and a small understanding was passed between the two. Andrew stepped back from the clash, sheathed his sword and attached it back to his side, and then walked over to the main window overlooking the school. This allowed Ozpin to deal with Glynda.

"Glynda you said that you have some paperwork written up for me?"

"Well yes sir I do but what was that all ab..."

"Don't worry about that Glynda if you would just place those on the desk for me that would be great"

"Ok..?" Glynda walked over to the desk and placed the stack of white papers onto the cluttered desk mindful of the now coffee stained floor surrounding the table. She looked over to the man standing at the window overlooking beacon. He remained silent and still, almost like he was a statue brought to life but had forgotten that said life allowed it to move. Glynda debated whether it was worth trying to find out what was going on between the two men but decided against it.

This seemed like a mess that was way above her pay grade.

"Well sir, I have some messages to pass on to you, Qrow wanted to inform you that Summer Rose has just found out that she has become pregnant, Prof…. Doctor Oobleck has just received, in his own words ' _the goods'_ you requested…"

"Oh thank Monty"

"And is currently holding in his office for you to pick up. Lastly your appointment with the council of the 5th has been moved back to the 10th due to… ' _unforeseen circumstances'_."

Ozpin felt himself flinch at that last message, despite not showing it in his face. Of course issues with the council would crop up now, a subtle glance over to Andrew betrayed no clue as to him having heard the comment but Ozpin knew he had, the real question would be whether his mood was affected by it.

Oh who was he kidding it probably was.

"Thank you Glynda you've been a massive help getting Beacon organised. In fact, why don't you take the rest of the day off? Paid of course. As a reward for the hard work you've given us in the short amount of time you've been here."

"Ozpin sir I can't do that! There's too much work to be done! I have to deal with the invoices for the food the cafeteria needs and the surplus amounts of dust that we have bought for Professor Peach's lessons…"

"I'll deal with the invoices and all the rest Glynda I promise."

She went to protest further, but them realised she was arguing for not taking free holiday and instead staying to do very tedious work. And if she recalled correctly she hadn't had any holiday since she had started working at Beacon. She found herself liking the idea more and more, but she would still give him the chance to back out.

"Are you sure you will be alright?"

"Yes" _No I won't. That Paperwork will be the death of me_

At those words Glynda's face lit up like a flare "In that case sir thank you very much" and with a small spring in her step made her way over to the elevator, pulling out her scroll as she did so, the last Ozpin heard of Glynda as the elevator doors shut was "Carol? Meet me at 3, I'm been given the day off…"

Ozpin heaved a big sigh of relief at the site of the elevator descending, or was it dread? That decision was going to bite him in the rear later, he knew how much work was involved in those invoices but it was a sacrifice that was needed. He could now deal with the goliath in the room.

Ozpin walked over to the window that Andrew was still standing at. It really was a beautiful view he mused. Perhaps he would be able to argue the need for a balcony to be built so as to enjoy the view properly, yes he could see it now, a teacher's meeting held out on a marvellous sunny day, Port cooking on a barbeque, the scent of burgers and sausages wafting through the air. Oobleck deep in conversation with Peach, Oobleck not realising that Peach was staring a tad less focused into his eyes. And Glynda lying on a beach chair, shades on, whip leant against the chair and getting a tan whilst wearing a tight 2 piece… And he was stalling instead of dealing with the problem at this point.

Ozpin contemplated what he should say; he knew that this next conversation would be his only chance to calm Andrew down so he needed to handle this carefully. He walked up to become level with him as he stared out into the world. Silence reined for a few moments before Ozpin spoke up.

"It's quite a view up here isn't it Andrew? When I became headmaster of Beacon this view astonished me. It reinforced what I was supposed to protect. Both as a headmaster and with our organisation."

Ozpin gazed out to the landscape before him. The view included the sight of the school grounds, where the proud statue of Andrew's ancestor stood, beyond that was the woods they used for initiation, filled with old world ruins and large amounts of grim. And beyond even that, across the cliff side and way into the distance stood the city of Vale.

Opzin's small smile died on his face, in preparation for his next set of words. "Andrew, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. My emotions got the better of me and I should have known better that to bring up Mt Glenn…. Nor did I imply that you were to blame for that tragedy. I know that you never wanted that to happen. I'm truly sorry."

A thick silence covered the office as he finished his apology, only broken by Andrew pulling out a thick cigar from his breast pocket. He then pulled out a small vial filled with a red powder, uncorking the vial he poured a small amount into the palm of his hand and squeezed the dust in his hand. After about 3 seconds he uncurled his hand to reveal a small fire floating in his hand, he brought this flame to his mouth to light his cigar and once it was lit he shook it to put out the fire. The scent of the smoke wafted around the office and Ozpin was half tempted to yank the cigar out of his mouth. He knew he did that on purpose as he hated his office smelling like a cigar box but decided against it.

Silence once again covered the room like the smoke of the cigar leaving the two men to enjoy the view and smoke (even if only one was enjoying that.) After a few minutes however the silence started to become unbearable for the grey haired headmaster, who was still unsure what Andrew was thinking about. But just as he was opening his mouth to break the silence it shattered when Andrew spoke 5 simple words

"I tried to warn them."

Ozpin looked at Andrew after he spoke that comment with a shocked expression. What caught Ozpin off guard was not what he said, but how he said it. Andrew's face betrayed no emotion, keeping a stony expression as he gazed out of the window. It was his voice that gave away his thoughts. The voice that spoke those words did not belong to Andrew Arc, CEO of multiple businesses and veteran hunter. It was the voice of Andrew Arc, a scared hunter in training worrying before a tough mission or a 17 year student who had found out that his father had just died from a heart attack. It was the voice of a broken man.

"Mt Glenn was supposed to mean something, a symbol of what Vale and its people could accomplish despite the ever present threat of the Grim. Instead it became a tragedy, a painful reminder of what the Grim are capable of. But it didn't have to become that did it Ozpin?"

Ozpin looked out into the world once more, a grimace marking his face as he knew what that comment meant. He followed the gaze of the man next to him, he saw that it pointed out to the city of Vale, but Ozpin knew that Vale wasn't what his eyes sought out. That prize belonged to the small mountains that protected the city from the Grim threat. The mountains that gave vale such a defence against the grim, and the only thing blocking the view of Mt Glenn from the office

Andrew's voice grew in strength after that, slowly returning to its former glory. "The building of Mt Glenn had been well underway for a couple of years at that point hadn't it Ozpin? A combined effort between both my workers and those contracted by the council. And we were close to completion, so close that people were already living inside the inner most areas of the city. You would think that such a big project would warrant a big budget to be spent on the protection of the city, to ensure that Mt Glenn was well guarded? We got **HALF** the staff we needed to protect that city!"

Andrew turned to look at Ozpin again; the fire that had been reduced to an ember had now returned with a vengeance blazing like a forest fire. Painful memories started to come forth from the deepest reaches of his mind, rising out of the graves he had put them in. And all they ended up doing was feeding the fire.

"You would think that when they decided to have a massive open day at Mt Glenn, a day that was supposed to promote the city in the eyes of the people and investors that they would increase the amount of protection that it had! To make sure that they could cover the expanded amount of people at the event! To make sure everyone was safe! **TO MAKE SURE THAT A GRIM ATTACK COULD NEVER HAPPEN!"**

The cigar that had tried to calm him had long been forgotten by Andrew as it fell to the floor in his rage. He marched over to Ozpin while his unfocused anger seemed to spiral around him. Suit covered arms reached out and grabbed blazer as he drew a surprised Ozpin in for a face to face chat.

"I pleaded… No I _begged_ them to send us more staff to help police the event! I warned that in no uncertain terms we were _dangerously_ understaffed! And I **TOLD** them if the grim were to attack on that day the whole of Mt Glenn would BE **LOST.** And what did they do? What was their course of action when a veteran huntsman told them that thousands of lives were at risk because of a lack of manpower they could easily fix? **NOTHING!"**

His grip on the blazer weakened enough for Ozpin to back up slightly. A moment was taken to sort his attire out before Ozpin looked back at the rage machine before him, except it seemed it had run out of steam. Andrew eyes had gone blank, transfixed with something a thousand miles away. His gaze lowered down to his still clenched hands and slowly uncurled them, like they would break if he moved them too fast. As quickly as he had disappeared, the broken man named Andrew Arc once again made himself known.

"We were understaffed…. Too thinly spread….. Tired and overworked….. And our morale was at the lowest it had ever been. With the noise that the event was producing and with how much negative emotion the guards were likely making, it was no wonder that the Grim decided to attack us on that day. We were woefully unprepared for what happened. The only reason we were able to make a decent evacuation attempt was because the defences that were built around us were of the highest quality. It's just a shame that they couldn't last against the force that the grim attacked us with."

* * *

 _Screams of both terror and pain filled the air from the mouths of civilians and huntsmen alike, his heart pounded in his chest like a menacing drum as he ran between targets, his sword a mere white blur that cut the Grim down like weeds. Unfortunately like weeds more seemed to crop up in their place. And unlike the Grim, when one of their own fell they weren't replaced, he jumped up onto a roof so he could survey the battlefield before him and to his dismay it wasn't pretty_

 _He saw a woman kneeling next to half a corpse of a man with one of the non-hunter security trying to pull her away, he spotted another security member get swarmed by small nevermore, their black feathers covering his body from the light as their bony beaks stripped the man alive before his very eyes, but out further beyond the wall was the true cause for alarm. A horde of Grim making their way to the wall, with a Goliath at the front._

 _Goliath's were some of the biggest grim to exist and could grow to unbelievable sizes so the 20 story pachyderm was a monstrous sight to behold. Black leathery skin covered the beast with the Grim trademark white bone shards protruding out of its body. Its thick long black legs stampeded forward with purpose, uncaring about any lesser grim that got squashed underneath its white toes. The curved tusks allowed the rampaging mastodon to barrel forward knocking aside any grim in its way, its large ears flapping with irritation in the wind. Its face was covered by a white mask inscribed with red markings that curved and bended over and around the eyes. And its eyes, small pinpricks of amber compared to its massive body glared at the wall with a burning hatred of man._

 _Andrew knew that the elephant grim would smash the wall to pieces. There was no way with their current firepower, manpower and coordination levels that they could put the beast down. Mt Glenn was lost. It was just a matter of time_

" _FALL BACK! GOLIATH AT THE WALL!" The cry had left his mouth before he had even realised. Its volume reaching out over the carnage before him. Civilian cries of terror worsted as their protectors started to get pushed back. Andrew re-joined the fray, his blur of a sword now joined by its shield counterpart as he hacked and slashed at the mass of black before him. His shield now becoming a valuable lifesaver as he covered his allies and the innocents from the Black Death surrounding them. Their goal as was any other groups was now to make it to the tunnels that linked Mt Glenn and Vale; they were the only chance of evacuation that the civilians had left. They were slowly making their way back to the evacuation site when a piercing cry caught Andrews's attention_

" _PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!" Andrew sliced the head of a grim that had leant forward to bite him and turned his own to the right, a woman had fallen to the floor outside of the zone of protection that he and the other's had made and had caught the attention of a fearsome threat. It towered over the woman, standing 10 feet tall easy. Long powerful legs kept the beast upright allowing its hands to bear a twisted resemblance of a man's. Its barrel chest and muscled arms spoke of the strength of the beast, while its clawed hands and feet promised a painful end to anything unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end. White spike like bones jutted out of its back, arms and spine whilst its face was covered by a white bone mask. Pointed teeth could be seen exposed outside of the jaw as the creature opened its mouth to take a bite, its amber eyes focused solely on the now crying woman. It was a beowolf, and judging by its size it must be an old and powerful one, an alpha._

 _Andrew sprinted over to the woman, cutting down any Grim that stood in his way, his tired legs working overtime to make the journey. He raised his shield in preparation to stop the bite from happening, tunnel vision falling in place as he tried to stop the beowolf. He was so close just a little further and_

 _ ***SLASH***_

 _Andrew Arc didn't feel the pain, not at first. He figured it was the adrenaline coursing in his veins that numbed the pain. He was aware that something had happened but for the life of him he couldn't figure it out. it was like the world had lost all gravity and he had become numb to it. When his back smashed straight through a brick wall, stopping his impromptu flight, that's when the pain kicked in_

 _His body crashed and landed in the remains of a dust shop, smashing several display cases and causing dust (both magical and ordinary, both crystal and bunny) to spread all over the shop floor. As his body came to rest at the back of the shop, laying in a pile of red and grey dust a faint glow of white spread around the body of Andrew, said light began flickering on and off before the light seemed to shatter and disappear. Andrew's aura had just been broken, and this fight just got a lot harder._

 _Andrew pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, his hands scrunching up in pain. His right hand opened and reached for his face to wipe away the dust before groaning in pain as his face lit up like it was on fire. He looked to his right to see a broken mirror reflecting what was wrong and he flinched in shock, A gash about 3 inches long was cut straight across his right cheek, the wound had already taken in dirt and dust from the pile that he had taken a dirt nap in and it seemed quite deep. He swore he could see his teeth despite having his mouth shut._

 _Andrew rose with a sharp intake of breath, legs shaking with the effort. His shield had remained on his arm but_ _Crocea Mors had flung from his hand and embedded itself into a blue office chair in front of him. Ripping the sword out of the overgrown blue pin cushion (taking much more effort than usually needed) he stood on unsteady legs and turned to the hole he had made in the brickwork_

 _The beowolf stepped into the dust shop, its uncovered fangs seemed to smirk at him as it walked into the centre of the room. Its left claw was stained with blood, dripping with a steady beat. The beast bellowed at him but Andrew didn't feel that intimidated by it, the creature had gotten a sneak attack on him and that was the only reason it had drew blood. Besides now the attention was not on the woman but rather on him…_

 _Wait….. That's not the same beowolf!_

 _He looked to the hole of the building, past the new challenger and scanned the outside for the woman and beowolf from before. He saw them only a couple of feet away from the hole in the building but then his blood ran cold_

 _The woman's eyes had lost a lot of emotion in them, staring into the sky for seemingly no purpose. The voice that had pierced the air before had become nothing more than strangled gasps. Her hands tried to grasp at her throat, but something was already covering it. As for the beowolf it had grasped the woman by the waist with both hands and had suspended the woman into the air. It had then proceeded to trap the woman's neck between its jaws. Blood oozed out from the puncture wounds, staining her neck and the beowolf's teeth a bright red. The woman's strangled gasps had become death gurgles as she choked on her own blood. Her eyes searched out and finally found him looking at her, and before Andrew could even try to make it to her, the beowolf strengthened its grip on the woman's waist, yanked its head to the side_

 _ ***CRACK***_

 _And broke the woman's neck._

 _With its job now completed the beowolf released its grip on the neck of the woman and threw the corpse to the floor. It then turned around to look directly at Andrew, it's teeth still stained red from its latest kill and walk slowly to the hole in the wall to join its younger counterpart._

 _But Andrew didn't notice that. He didn't notice the two big wolfs now stalking their prey. His attention was now focused solely on the body it had left behind. Dark long hair framed her face, wildly fanned out on the floor. Blue eyes that once would have held so much colour were now muted and lifeless. Blood oozed out of the bite mark disfiguring her neck. And her full red lips were frozen in a last call for help. Help that never came._

 _Andrew felt something build up inside of him. It was a funny feeling. He knew what it was basically but he didn't quite know what to call it. Angry was nowhere near good enough, mad was too basic a word for what he felt at the moment and incensed was too refined for the situation. This feeling was one of the biggest he had felt in a long time and it needed a suitable name…._

 _Outraged. That's what he felt._

 _With a mighty cry Andrew roared at the beowolfs in front of him. He raised his sword and struck the floor, a resounding clang as the blade collided with an unyielding marble floor. This sparked the smaller of the two, the one who had slashed his face to rush forward and leaping strike the hunter in front of it. It was the more inexperienced of the two and therefore didn't see the danger the older one did. Andrew scraped his blade along the ground, sparks lighting up from the fiction, these sparks ignited the red fire dust that had coated the ground in the crash, causing a huge slash of fire to fly forward to meet the grim. The one who had been staying back had enough time to dodge out of the way, but the one that had charged forward had no time to react as the fiery wave cleaved the grim in half leaving 2 pieces of grim matter to fly past Andrew on either side._

 _The other beowolf looked at the fate of its pack member and roared at the man who had cut its kin in two. In return the man roared back, the rage inside his heart bright enough for him to appear like a beacon for the old wolf. And then as one they charged at each other, bone against steel, claw against sword, grim verses man. The beowolf leapt up into the sky as Andrew raised his shield and prepared to..._

" **ANDREW!"**

* * *

Andrew flinched and staggered back in response to Ozpin's call. His head twisted and turned to try and find the beast that had killed that woman. He soon realised that it was only a memory, that the beowolf was very much dead and that he was currently in Ozpin's office. He turned to face the man in question when he felt moisture fall down his cheek. When he wiped it away, to his surprise he find out it was because he had been crying. He quickly wiped his cheeks with his pocket handkerchief before returning it to his suit pocket. His expression remained contemplative as he broke eye contact with Ozpin to continue where he left of.

"When the goliath broke down the wall we knew Mt Glenn was lost. At that point our only concern was getting the civilians to safety. My group as well as any others all made our way to the underground tunnels that connected to Vale. Those still alive of the security force made a last stand defence to hold off the Grim while the civilians boarded any trains still there. When it was clear that we couldn't afford to hold out any longer…. We sent the trains out while we fell back to the bullhead field."

He didn't say it out loud but Ozpin understood the hidden message in his words. Those who were unable to make it to the train stations were unfortunately left behind. As for using the trains for the civilian evacuation instead of the bullheads he could understand the decision.

The Bullheads were VTOL jets, made for durability, manoeuvrability and strong firepower. They were not meant for carrying a lot of passengers as they had a limit of carrying about 6 people at a time including the pilot. Trying to cram the amount of civilians that they had into the limited number of bullheads was not going to happen. Not to mention that the airfield that housed the bullheads were nowhere near as defendable as the train station due to the open area needed for the jets to take off.

"The journey to the airfield was a nightmare. The Grim were determined to make sure we didn't leave alive. We lost half of our surviving force making our way there. Out of our total security force we started with, only about 50 made it out on the bullheads. But on the way to those Bullheads out of there one thought kept moral up. One thought allowed us to feel better about what happened and kept us able to continue fighting. That thought was that we got as many of those civilians out of there as we could. The knowledge that they were safe and sound in Vale allowed us to rest easy, knowing we had done our job."

Andrew turned his head back to Ozpin, a flat and dead expression set like stone on his face. "We had no idea what had happened."

"When we had landed we tried to find out where the people we had evacuated turned up. We wanted reassurance that we had done some good. But when we tried to find them we found that there haven't been any people come down from Mt Glenn come on the trains. In fact the train station was not even informed that Mt Glenn had been attacked!"

"It turns out when the council heard that Mt Glenn was being attacked they panicked. They decided that Mt Glenn was a lost cause and had the tunnels connecting Vale and Mt Glenn sealed off to stop anything making its way into Vale! I'm sure you know what that means Ozpin!"

Ozpin closed his eyes and turned his head away from Andrew. Of course he knew what that meant. With the tunnels blocked off from vale the trains would have collided against the blockade causing many of the passengers to perish in the crash. Those who were unlucky enough to survive the crash were trapped between a wall, the wreckage of the train and a wave of Grim racing down the tunnel to the vulnerable prize at the end. The only people down in those tunnels would be the civilians evacuated from Mt Glenn as well as maybe a couple of huntsmen that were too injured to fight.

It would have been a massacre.

"All those people dead! And why? Because the council didn't trust they own huntsman to protect their city! And because of their mistake thousands of innocents died! The huntsmen that died that day died in vain! But the worst part is that if they had listened to me in the first place then that tragedy may have never happened! Those people would still be alive right now!"

Andrew looked down to his hands, clenching them into tight fists that shuddered in silent fury. Tears once again started to stream from his eyes without him realising it, staining his cheeks with the salty liquid. His voice lost its tough quality and starting to waver once more.

"If the council had just listened to me then maybe….. Maybe Sophia and Eleanor might still be alive today…"

Sophia and Eleanor, those were names Ozpin hadn't heard of in a long time. Andrew was not what one would generally consider a family man but that was as far from the truth as possible. If you asked Andrew what he was most proud of it would not be his accomplishments in the field or the wealth he had managed to build using his wit and knowhow. That prize belonged to his family

Sophia Arc, formally known as Sophia Lamb had been one of Remnant's leading psychiatrists. See seemed to have this way with words that soothed the soul and made you just open up to her. The woman seemed to be able to understand exactly how a mind worked and could unravel its mysteries in seconds. The two had met when Andrew was told to see a psychiatrist after a mission went horribly wrong and was forced to take his first life. They had been much younger at the time. Him a fresh out of the academy huntsmen and her a budding psychiatrist with only a few clients to her name.

They hit it off almost instantly.

Andrew's treatment only lasted a month or so. But they continued to see each other after because they enjoyed each other's company too much to part ways. Over time this friendship grew into something more than just an interesting conversation partner. Not too long after the knot was tied and they moved with each other. Of course one thing led to another and after about 5 years together they had a little girl.

Eleanor Arc had been the sweetest little girl that Ozpin had the pleasure of meeting. She was polite, caring and eager to learn anything she didn't know. She had wanted to follow in her father's footsteps as a huntress and was going to have her aura unlocked on her 11th birthday and had started training for it at the age of 10. Now Ozpin wasn't normally a betting man, he preferred to leave that to Professor Port. But Ozpin would have bet his favourite coffee mug on Eleanor becoming one of the greatest huntresses of their time. The potential that Ozpin could see in her was incredible, and it was all untapped.

It was a shame then that Sophia had decided to go to Mt Glenn that day with Eleanor to have a look at the homes at Mt Glenn as well as to surprise Andrew at work. Andrew had no idea that they were at Mt Glenn when the Grim attacked. So when he returned home to an empty house with no note and no answer to his calls he was understandably worried. It took the Council a week to release the figures of who was at the event. One week of agony for Andrew as he wondered where his family had gone.

"When I saw their names on that screen a part of me died. The woman I loved and the child I adored were now dead. Because the council couldn't do their job. Ozpin I was only one of thousands that the council failed that day. It wasn't the Grim that killed my family, it was their incompetence. And I swear by the Arc name to make sure that no father should see his 10 year old daughter dead because of his government. But in order to so…"

Andrew then slowly turned to face Ozpin and stuck out a single hand. Andrew's eyes, slightly red from his crying focused on Ozpin with a steely gaze. And with four words thrust a difficult question onto Ozpin.

"I need your help."

Ozpin stayed still for the longest time. He saw the question coming right at the start of this meeting but he didn't have an answer then and time had not given him one now. He needed to give careful consideration to his answer

If he said yes what would that mean? It would mean that time would have to be set aside to work on plans to overthrow the council without it looking like a hostile takeover. It would mean getting new candidates trained up so the council was back up and running as soon as possible, because even if Andrew had all the candidates they needed already picked out. That didn't mean that he trusted them to align with their cause. They would also need a way to keep the old council quiet and make it seem that they had retired/resigned instead of being forced off the council. And it was all work that would need to remain secret as even with his allies Ozpin wasn't sure who he could trust with this. If it worked then they would have a council that listened to them and could be a much bigger help that the current one. In the end however it was still a very risky idea.

But if he said no? Nothing would really change. And as much as Andrew had complained about them and even with the valid points he had stated, they worked. They may not be the council Vale deserved right now but they were the one they needed. And Ozpin wasn't lying when he said that Vale wasn't in the sturdiest position at the moment. Tensions with the White Fang protest group were growing as they protests were being broken up more violently than before. The grim outside the walls of Vale were getting bolder and more frequent and despite the attack of Mt Glenn being over a year age people were still feeling the aftereffects from the tragedy. The people of Vale were in a twitchy state of mind at the moment and something like a Botched overthrow attempt of the council would tip them over the edge. Riots, panic and most importantly negative emotions would run rampant. Resulting in chaos and the attention of powerful grim to the walls. It would be the destruction of Vale no doubt about it and Ozpin would not put the city at such a high risk.

But…. Where would that leave him with Andrew?

Andrew swore by the Arc name. And if there is one thing the Arcs were known for its keeping a promise. But Ozpin knew that he couldn't do this without him. If he said no then this plan of his would be unable to come to fruition. The only problem was that the look in his eye showed that he expected Ozpin to join him in this plan. If he didn't then Andrew would see this as a massive betrayal. So it came down to whether Ozpin wanted to keep the city as safe as possible, or he wanted to keep his best friend.

The good of the many, or the single? There really wasn't a choice was there?

"I'm sorry Andrew. But no."

The hand stayed out for a little while. Maybe because Andrew didn't expect the answer he got. But slowly the outstretched hand closed into a fist before returning to its side. The straight face that Andrew had been showing cracked but not in anger, but rather in sadness. It was as if something had been confirmed to Andrew and only now could he realize it. The neutral expression on his face seemed to sag and his shoulders drooped as he nodded his head to Ozpin's answer.

"I assume that there is nothing I can say to get you to change your mind is there?"

"I'm afraid not."

Andrew turned away from Ozpin, his head nodding to himself rather than the answer given.

They stayed like that for a time. A deafening silence once again covering the office, broken only by the soft clicks made by the gears and neither man was eager to break it. However there was one question that hung over their heads like the sword of Damocles. As much as Ozpin didn't want to ask, it was a question that needed to be put forth.

"What now?"

The question was left unanswered for a minute or so. Ozpin believed it was because Andrew didn't have an answer yet but that wasn't the case. Andrew took a drag on his cigar (how the man had managed to relight it without him realising was beyond him) and gave his answer.

"For now I think I'm just going to return home. This discussion has given me a lot to think about and I would rather go over my thoughts in a more private setting."

"You still plan to overthrow the council?"

"I just want to relax for the moment. Without your help my plan is no longer viable. However maybe I'm going about this the wrong way…."

"How?"

He wouldn't elaborate on that statement, which did little to reassure Ozpin about what Andrew was planning now. But before Ozpin could question the man Andrew was already walking back to the desk. Ozpin's eyes kept a constant gaze on Andrew, watching as he grabbed his club from where he had laid it against the table. Before turning around to face him.

"Well Ozpin, this has been a…. _interesting_ chat we've had ourselves. Oh and because I won't be able to attend the next meeting give my regards to the others please."

"Very well Andrew. I shall speak to you soon."

With that Andrew walked over to the elevator and pressed the button meanwhile Ozpin walked over to his desk and decided to get a start on the work he had taken over from Glynda. As Ozpin sat in his chair the soft ding of the elevator reaching the top floor let Ozpin know that Andrew had entered and was making his way down. But before the doors could close a hand shot out and stopped the doors from closing. Ozpin looked up at the sound to see Andrew looking at him with one of the most serious expressions he had seem on the man's face.

"Last chance Ozpin. My offer still stands. Join me in this, we could bring forth a new age for humanity."

Ozpin looked at the man's face and he could see he believed what he was doing was right. And as much as he knew that he needed to say no he wanted to say yes. But his duty to protect Vale was too great to tempt him to agree with Andrew's plan. However a feeling in his gut told Ozpin this was the very last chance. As he took in the features of his old partner one last time he felt that this would be the last time he would ever see Andrew.

But despite all that. His answer remained the same.

"I know, and I'm sorry."

Andrew stared at Ozpin for only a couple of seconds, but they seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Then with a simple nod Andrew let go of the doors and they started to close. As they slowly made their way shut Andrew looked at Ozpin in the eyes one last time and before they closed completely Andrew gave one final word.

"Goodbye"

The doors shut with a soft clunk but to Ozpin they might as well have slammed closed with the noise of a prison cell door. Ozpin released a sigh that he didn't know he had building up and gazed sadly at the now shut elevator doors. As he returned to look at his desk, one side now stained with coffee and shards of his favourite mug and the other supporting a stack of invoices that he had offered to complete for Glynda he thought about Andrew. He didn't know what Andrew was going to do now but that feeling in his gut told him what he needed to know.

That was the last time he would ever see him. And you know what?

He was right.

* * *

 **So what do you think? Good, bad, somewhere in between? Let me know so I can improve the story**

 **With that said Ladies and Gentlemen that's it.**

 **See you next time.**


	2. First Impressions

**Ok so I didn't expect to get this much of a response...**

 **Thanks for the comment's showing their interest in this story and for giving it a chance. Its nice to see my writing skills are somewhat competent. Any way lets get straight to it shall we?**

* * *

The skies of Remnant can be a dangerous place. The ever present threat the Grim posed meant that any venture into the clouds was one taken so at great risk. With creatures such as nevermore, lancers and griffons patrolling the skies, it was easy to see why defensive measures against airborne threats had so many advancements made. It also made sense why most vehicle's attempting air travel were kitted out with a lot of weaponry.

It was because of this that as we come across a single aircraft lazily flying in the sky without a care in the world, we notice that it is somewhat of an oddity. For starters how the thing looks is bizarre, it's as if someone took the front of a freight train, gave it a another level for the drivers on top, welded 2 flimsy looking wings that flapped like a bird on either side and to top it all off stuck some riverboat turbines on that didn't seem to do anything at the back of the vehicle on the sides.

Another thing to not that was odd was that the vehicle despite being quite large possessed few armaments. That's not to say that the craft had no way to defend itself, but for its size one would expect a little more firepower.

Where the thing was flying might have explained why such little defensive measures were needed. The vehicle in question was something akin to an air ferry, transporting its many passengers where they needed to go in generally safe and sterile conditions. Because of this what firepower the transport had was only "just in case". This particular ferry was making a very important journey, flying over an impressively high cliff side as it made its way to an equally impressive sight.

This ferry was making its way from the city of Vale to Beacon academy. The skies that it flew in were clear but they hadn't always been free of Grim. Flocks of nevermore used to come out and attack the ships that made the journey. But when most of those flocks were completely wiped out due to said cargo of those ships, the grim realised maybe they should stop trying and started to avoid the area completely.

Call base levels of Grim as stupid as you want, but when you beat anything with a stick enough, they tend to learn to avoid areas where they keep dying.

So what is the cargo the plane is carrying anyway?

Only the next generation of Hunters and Huntresses.

Inside the main lobby of the ship was where the majority of the hunters and huntresses had gathered. The ships lobby consisted of a big open space with benches surrounding the walls of the ship and the occasional cluster of benches placed in the middle. On the top of the walls hung TVs that currently showcased the news going on about a robbery being thwarted back in vale. And along the walls windows allowed the passengers a view of the surroundings as the ship slowly made its way to Beacon. As for the hunters and huntresses

Themselves they came in all sorts of different varieties.

On one of the benches sat a tall ginger haired youth. He was covered in dull grey amour with yellow highlights at the edges of the plates, on the main chest plate was the silhouette of an eagle in flight with its wings spread far out in the same yellow as the highlights. A black shirt with the v cut collar popping out from underneath the top of his amour could be seen while black trousers were visible where the amour didn't completely cover his legs as to not restrict his movement. The bottom of his legs and his feet was covered in metal boots made of the same kind as the rest of his amour. And to finish the look a red sash was wrapped around his waist. Currently he was polishing the weapon in his lap, said weapon being a large two handed mace. Its shaft a long sliver pole and its head a large amount of black metal curved and pointing into a red dust crystal nestled on the top of the sliver shaft. A small button could be seen just above the black comfort grip that the mace wore, although the purpose of said button could not be figured out at a glance. The man was looking out into the sea of huntsman to be with a cold and calculating sneer. As if he was looking for some fresh meat amongst the crowd.

Across from the surveying ginger sat a pair that for no reason should they have been able to coexist like they seemed able to. The male of the duo sat on one of the outside benches keeping an eye on his more excitable other half. The man had long raven black hair that was kept in a ponytail behind him with somewhat long hair framing his face and almost covering his pink coloured eyes. A single stripe of pink highlighted the front of his hair, although whether or not that was his choice to have it or his more impulsive companion's was anyone's guess. The clothes he wore took on an eastern theme, wearing a dark green, long-sleeved tailcoat with its buttons done diagonally. Along these buttons the coat was accented with a black stripe with gold colours surrounding the edges of the black. And with the tails of the coat lying on the bench you could see that is was coloured red on the inside. The bottom half of his outfit consisted of a practically white set of trousers and simple black shoes. His face and his posture whilst sitting told of a man that never rested, a sentinel that had to keep a constant vigilance on his surroundings lest a disaster should come about right under his nose.

Looking at the constantly moving female next to him, you could see why.

The other half of this pair was probably the complete opposite in every way, his dark long hair was contrasted by her bright, short ginger locks. His calm, tired pink eyes was completely different to her bright, alive aqua eyes. Where he sat still like a stone statue, head only slightly moving to be able to track any movement made. She moved like a hurricane, constantly moving around in her seat to look out the window, lean into her friend's ear to speak in hushed whispers that everyone around them could hear or to look out amongst the crowd to have a look at all the new people she had yet to meet. She seemed to move like lighting, sparking around her stoic counterpart as if darting in between thunderclouds and despite how much she darted around she never seemed to lose energy.

Her clothing consisted of a collared black vest that ended at her waist with her emblem, (a square hammer with a lightning bolt shooting straight through the head), printed across the back. With the vest open you could see the layers of the vest, coloured both red and light-blue. Underneath the vest she also wears a white sleeveless top that had a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone cut out of the top. For her bottom half she sported a bright pink skirt that made level halfway down the girl's thighs. Said skirt also had white ruffles which became visible as the skirt moved around blocking any sight of want the girl wore underneath it. To finish off the ensemble the girl's choice of footwear were big heavy combat boots with a colour scheme of white for the leather and soles and pink for the laces and flaps on the top of the boots.

Said duo were currently in the middle of a very important conversation that was a subject taken very seriously by them.

"Ren what sound do you think a sloth makes?"

Well, taken seriously by their standards that is.

Ren looked over to his more excitable friend sitting next to him, well 'sitting' might have not been the correct choice of words as the girl had decided that the most comfortable position to sit on the bench was to lay upside down. Her head laid on the cushion whilst her body and legs rested against the back of the bench with her legs wrapping over the top of it, seemingly unconcerned about the risk of flashing her underwear to someone. Her big bright eyes looked up to her more stoic friend with a serious expression on her face. Ren only needed to raise an eyebrow to his partners question for her to continue on with the idea that had popped up in her head.

"Well Ren because we're going to beacon to become a hunter and huntress and we know that they will put all of the students into teams to train us as we both know all the most famous hunters come from teams of 4 so I started thinking what would happen if we didn't get paired up and I realized that would be a travesty I mean we would say that its fine and that we would keep in touch and remain super bestest friends forever _but then the strain of living with other teams will get to us and we won't be able to hang out as much as we have duties to our own teams and before you know it we'll see each other in the hallways and we will barely recognize each other you will be wearing glasses for some reason while I will have long hair and piercings and when we talk we'll realize we have nothing to say to each other_!"

While the girl had been talking the girls sitting arrangement had constantly changed. From sitting on the sit in a thinking position, to sitting on her legs whilst looking at Ren, to laying on the bench with arms stretched up as if she was talking to a physiatrist with it ending with her grasping at the green coat of her friend. The words leaving her mouth at a speed that would make a race car jealous and for anyone else the words would have seemed to start blurring together. Despite the constant energy that his friend seemed to emit Ren kept a straight face as he stared at his friend, and as she looked up at his face, her bright eyes focused solely on his Ren gave her a simple command.

"Nora… breathe."

Nora continued to look at her friend for a couple of seconds before taking in a massive breath. A breath so comically oversized and exaggerated that Ren swore that he could feel the hair on his head get drawn into the gaping maw that was Nora's mouth. After literally 10 seconds Nora finished her breath and continued with what see had been saying.

"So to avoid that complete disaster from happening we need to make sure that we remain together on the same team now call it a woman's intuition but I think the way they will decide the teams is with a live test with the grim cause I mean come on their a combat school and they don't even see if the students can survive at the academy first who would ever think to not check that _so we can use that to are advantage as all we need to do is come up with a sure-fire way of finding each other so we can pair up and show how good are teamwork is to make them think "wow what a pair it would take an idiot to split them up and I'm no idiot" and because we both know sloths are the bestest animal ever I was thinking that we could use the sound they make to call out to each other so Ren do you know what sound a sloth makes?!"_

Ren kept a straight face to Nora's antics even when she made her way directly onto his lap in a position that would seem quite intimate with anyone else. To Ren however he knew it was just the way Nora was, loud, proud and with a complete lack of awareness for personal space. So he ignored all the looks they were getting because of the compromising position and answered woman sitting on his lap

"I'm not sure sloths make all that much noise Nora, what sound do you think a sloth makes?"

Nora looked into Ren's eyes and started slowly moving her face towards his own, only stopping a couple of inches apart. His face betrayed no emotion that Nora was causing him to feel with the close proximity of their faces. Again the scene looked very intimate to anyone else seeing the two so close but Ren knew better. Nora was doing this to distract him from whatever surprise she was cooking up. Using that big smile and large eyes to keep his attention away from whatever is was she was going to do. But Ren knew better, and was determined to be aware of whatever Nora was…

"Boop."

Ren's train of thought was interrupted by the finger of Nora's that had managed to snake its way up between their bodies and touch his nose. Ren's eyes tore away from Nora's and focused on the new entity that (in the immortal words of Nora) "booped his snoot." The finger stayed in position for a couple more seconds before it pulled back and retreated down to Nora's side. She looked at her friend with a cheeky grin and Ren couldn't help but crack a small smile and a chuckle. With a somewhat resigned sigh his hand rose up from his side and poked Nora on the nose.

"Boop."

As we move from this pair however another duo manages to stand out of the crowd of colourful characters. They stood together underneath one of the TVs and like the pair before these two girls had very different appearances. The first of the two could be seen as noticeably younger than her counterpart or anyone else on the ship for that matter. Another thing that could be said was that she liked the colour red a lot. On her feet she wore big black combat shoes with red soles tied up with red laces with her legs covered by dark stockings. Around her waist she wore a black "combat" skirt that boasted frills shaded a deep red, looking like blooming rose petals. Her top half consisted of a black long sleeved blouse that boasted a high collar with the ends of the sleeves and collar coloured a deep red. On the top of this she wore a black waist clincher with red laces holding it tight as well as a sliver belt around her waist adored with small pouches and a small bandolier, clipped in place with a buckle in the shape of a sliver rose. To top her outfit off a bright red cloak flowed down her back with a hood bunched up near her neck, clipped into place with two pins in the shape of Christian crosses. She was a fair skinned girl with neck length black hair that bleed into red as it made its way to the tips. Light rosy cheeks sat under big sliver eyes that reflected the light brightly as she looked around the room in wonder.

Or they would be, if she wasn't wide eyed from being smothered by the embrace of her sister.

Now just looking between the two you wouldn't have any idea that they were related. The older sibling looked very little like her sister. To start with she had long thick flowing blonde hair that reached down to the base of her spine with a cowlick sitting on the top of her head. Her fair skin framed her cocky smile and lilac eyes. Around her neck she wore a loose fitting orange neck warmer. For her top she wore a brown leather jacket that cut its sleeves just short of the elbow with it also exposing her toned midriff as well as her defined arms. Underneath the jacket she wore a yellow crop top with her personal emblem, (A burning heart with small lines cut out inside the heart.) stamped onto the top left with just the tops of the flames visible from under the jacket. On her hands she sported black fingerless gloves while around her wrists she wore big bulky yellow bracelets, the top of her wrists protected due the size of the plates on them. Around her waist a brown leather belt held pouches full of ammunition with one of the pouches having her emblem in full view in a blazing orange. Underneath this she wore a long, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side as well as a pair of black mini shorts. To finish the look she wore brown, knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, with the right sock pushed down just below the knee with a lavender bandana tied around her left knee.

This woman's name was Yang Xiao Long, and she was currently giving her baby sister one of the biggest hugs she had ever given her. Unfortunately that hug just so happened to press her sister's face into her…. Impressively sized bust.

"Oh I'm so happy that my little sister is making her way to beacon with me. This is the best day ever!"

"Yang….Air…."

She looked down to little sister to see her normally pale skin turn a slightly blue hue. With an embarrassed chuckle she released her sister's head out of her embrace, a sweat drop forming as her sister took in big gulps of air.

"Yang! Stop doing that! One day you'll trap me so far into your chest I'll become a part of them!"

"Can you blame me Ruby? My little sister proves herself able to go toe to toe with dangerous criminals like Torchwick and the headmaster himself invites her to attend beacon 2 years early! I'm so proud of you!"

"It really wasn't anything special…."

"What are you talking about, you proved that your good enough to beat Torchwick's butt…"

"But that's the thing Yang! I didn't beat him. In fact I did the complete opposite of beating him because he was able to escape and I would have ended up being really hurt if I wasn't saved my Miss Goodwitch."

"Ruby. Look at me."

Ruby did as she was asked, bringing her head back up to look at her sister in the eyes. The cheeky grin she was known for had been replaced with a soft, caring smile. Signalling her change into caring big sis mode.

"Did Torchwick manage to steal any dust?"

"No he didn't get any but…"

"Do you regret helping that dust store owner?"

"Of course not but…"

"And you still want to attend beacon right?"

"Are you crazy of course I do but…"

"Then I don't see what the big deal is Ruby. Everyone at beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees!"

"That's the point! Now people will think I'm this amazing prodigy or something because I'm at beacon 2 years early! I don't want that! I don't want to be the bee's knees, I just want to be a normal girl. With normal knees! I don't want people to think that I'm special…"

Yang looked at her baby sister with a sad smile as Ruby started to drop her gaze to the floor. Ruby Rose was many things. A self-admitted weapons geek. Someone that could not be trusted with any form of cookie and despite what she herself believes a prodigy huntress in training, able to hold her own with hunters and huntresses much older than her. However one thing that ruby was not any good at was social interaction. The friends that she had at their old school of Signal Academy had been made out of many difficult trial and error mistakes that Ruby had committed. The people that were friends with her knew how socially awkward the girl was and so they were prepared for how the girl acted. Ruby got so shy around people that she didn't know it made it nearly impossible for her to talk to them. And when she did manage to talk, because of her lack of interest with most things the general populace liked she had nothing to talk about. There was only so long someone could listen to Ruby waffle on about the firing mechanism of her rifle with the amount of… " _Passion"_ she gave the subject.

But that's why Beacon was a blessing in disguise for Ruby. It's here where she could finally start to break out of her shy habits and learn how to be not so socially awkward. With the best part of it being that her big sis Yang can observe from the side-lines and help if needed. Not too much of course, Ruby wouldn't learn if her sister bailed her out of every problem she had.

It's also going to be pretty funny watching her sister make a fool out of herself.

"Ruby… you are special."

Yang reached out a hand and placed it reassuringly on her sister's shoulder, causing Ruby to glance up to look at Yang in the eyes. But just as Yang was about to give the pep talk of the century to her sister, all of the TVs on the ship suddenly cut to a white screen with a loud single tone, drawing the attention of all the people currently in the lobby. The screens then transitioned into showing a close up of a woman's face. She boasted shiny blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face and bright emerald eyes that sat behind smart ovular glasses. On her ears she had dangling teal earrings to match the hanging pendant on her white collar.

"Hello there future students. Welcome to Beacon."

"Who's that?"

"My name is Professor Goodwitch."

"Oh."

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honour of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect the world from all its dangers. So whether you are here because you come from a long line of protectors, you wish to make a living out of saving the day or you simply like helping people. Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Beacon."

With her bit spoken the TVs tuned out leaving the future pupils with the view out the windows. One by one the students to be made their way to the windows, excited chatter and wows of amazement filled the ship as they laid their eyes on the white walls of Beacon for the first time. Ruby made her way to the window like many of the others, her sliver eyes wide in wonder. This was her home for the next 4 years, and she couldn't help but think that everyone on the ship must be feeling the same amount of wonder that she was feeling right now.

" **BLEEGHHHH!"**

Well… almost everyone.

* * *

As we turn our attention away from the mass of people now based at the windows we make our way to one of the ships few toilet cubicles. We venture inside to find someone currently leaning over the toilet bowl. The poor man in question sported a mop of bright blond hair and a set of deep ocean blue eyes. He wore over his defined body what had to be one of the ugliest jumpers ever to be created, a cream coloured abomination with long sleeves reaching just below his wrists complete with tacky patterns lining the chest. A set of white and gold trimmed armour covered the top half of his body in the form of a chest plate, shoulder guards and a gauntlet on his right hand. His bottom half consisted of a pair of smart black trousers and a set of black and grey dress shoes. Around his waist sat two different weapons holstered on either hip. On his right hand side the handle of a revolver could be seen sticking out of a holder while on the left a white sheathe dangled and swayed with his movements with the blue guarded hilt of its sword uncovered for the world to see. The name of this man is Jaune Ryan, and he was currently emptying the contents of his stomach down the porcelain throne.

Jaune wiped the spittle away from his mouth after the last upchuck, groaning in discomfort. "Flying… why did the only way to get to Beacon have to be flying?" he muttered to himself, head still hovering over the bowl. He would have taken any other kind of transport. Car, boat, travel by foot, hell he was starting to think climbing the cliff side was a good idea at the moment. Anything to get him off this metal airborne death-trap. He stood up using the walls as support, flushing the toilet of his past breakfast while popping a mint into his mouth. As was the normal procedure with air travel for Jaune. He walked out of the toilet just as the ship started to land allowing Jaune to rush off the ship as quick as he could. He was half tempted to kiss the ground when his feet felt the earth beneath it but thought better of it, best not have everyone think you're weird right away after all.

Jaune took a deep breath of the fresh air as he looked around himself. He did it, he was at Beacon. This was the place that would teach and train him to greater heights he could ever get on his own. It was here where he would get strong enough to protect his family. As he walked along the grounds he took in what weapons the other seemed to carry. With equal amounts of scepticism and excitement

" _That guy has a guitar with razor sharp edges like a battle axe. That girl is using a bow made up of 2 curved short swords and a string. That girl with the really large rack is using a segmented sword whip. That tall large dark skinned titan of a man has a sword that I swear is somehow bigger than himself and lastly that dude in the black cloak is just swinging around a glorified garden rake. I mean they look really cool and they probably know how to use them but how impractical can you make your weapons guys. What's wrong with something simple? Like a sword and shield combo? Or a double barrel shotgun?"_

Call him old fashioned but Jaune preferred a more simple design. Something that was proven to work, had little chance of messing up when you needed it most and didn't have to be constantly maintained. After all you can't go wrong with the classics. Of course Jaune was not one to shy away from improving on the classics. A double barrel shotgun with 2 shots is alright… A double barrel shotgun with 6 shots is amazing. Jaune continued to walk down the

 ***BANG***

* * *

 _Black and white tiled floor stained with blood as he ran for his life. The monkey wrench in his right hand flicked crimson blood as he ran but he paid no heed on that. The small corridors and dimly lit light cast giant horrifying shadows over the walls as he turned around the corner. Jaune risked a glance backwards and was met by a bullet impacting the wall just behind him for his troubles. 3 figures crashed around the bend in hot pursuit, the lead figure with a smoking revolver in hand being the one who had shot._

" _Get back here you mook!"_

" _Come on! I just want to talk to somebody!"_

" _Run! That's all your kind can do, isn't it?!"_

 _The people continued to chase him with rabid fury, although Jaune struggled to call them people by any means. Sure they walked and ran like people, sure they sounded like people, and despite their dirty and mutated appearance they did look 'kind of' like people. However it was the way they acted that gave away what they really were. The warped faces, bulbous growths on their everywhere and distorted voices betrayed no ounce of the monsters they were. Their minds had been broken. Shattered into dust and then sloppily put back together with discount glue. The way they talked to phantoms that only they could see, the huge bouts of rage that spawned from the littlest motions._

 _Jaune would probably be better off with beowolfs to be honest._

 _Jaune slipped around another corner, slowing down to catch a breath. If he didn't do something to stop them they would continue their chase until their legs had worn away into stubs. He looked over to his right and spied a red drum barrel laying on the floor. A quick check confirmed that there were no leaks and the drum was still full of its payload._

 _This'll work._

 _Jaune grasped the barrel with both hands, dragging the barrel over to the wall. He then waited until he could hear their footsteps make their way just around the corner. With a mighty heave he chucked the barrel around the corner hearing 3 various 'oofs' for his effort. Jaune stepped around from his ambush spot to see all 3 of the monsters flat on their backs, the gun the middle one had been shooting now had spun out of his hand and stopped at Jaune's feet. He bent down and picked up the gun, (a 6 shot revolver) before aiming it at the big red painted target in front of him. The middle man's eyes widened as his warped mind realised what was happening and for a second clarity filled his brain, making him shake his head with a desperate plea. A plea that fell on deaf ears._

" _Sorry…"_

* * *

Jaune snapped back into reality with a jolt, a sharp gasp being the only noise he made. He looked to his raised arm to see that he had drawn his gun and was aiming in the exact way he had before all that time ago. He lowered the firearm and quickly holstered it, before taking a deep breath. He needed to make sure that didn't happen again, freezing like that was a sure fire way to get killed.

Wait….. What was the bang that set him off anyway?

Jaune looked around the area of the courtyard he was standing in before his eyes locked onto the most likely target. Sitting in a sizeable black soot circle on the normally white bricked pathway was a girl who looked so miserable that is seemed like the world might as well have shot her dog in front of her. Her red clothes were stained black with soot and her small stature seemed even smaller due to her knees curling up to her chest. Jaune steeled himself and prepared to walk away. That was something he didn't want deal with on his first day, and he was sure someone else would help her…

"Welcome to Beacon…"

Of course when those words were muttered out of her mouth, with the same enthusiasm as a widow in a graveyard, his sense of morals turned him right back around. With the best smile he could put on his face and with a hand outstretched he walked over to the girl.

"Need a hand?"

The girl's head raised slightly as she processed the words she heard spoken. A moment passed before she turned her head around to look at Jaune face to face. Her sliver eyes widened slightly as she took in the tall, blond and defined man that towered over small frame, light from the sun framing his figure with a brilliant glow. Jaune kept his smile going while she took her time taking his hand. In all honestly the situation felt very familiar to him, it was just like helping one of his little sisters. What did he have to worry about?

"Aren't you the guy that puked on the bullhead?"

….He should have just walked away.

* * *

"Look it was the first thing that came into my head okay? I said I was sorry!"

"It's ok. You just need to think before you say stuff you know. I mean it's like if I came up to you and said _want some help? Crater face_?"

"Please don't call me that! Or… I'll start calling you vomit boy!"

"Touché."

The girl, whose name was Ruby Rose, turned out to be just like him when it came to talking to other people. By that it meant they both had a tendency to put their foot in their mouth when they spoke. Still after that first misshape he found out a few of things about Ruby. 1) She was 2 years younger than anyone else at Beacon, being accepted 2 years early by the headmaster himself. 2) Her older sister Yang had basically ditched her In favour of her own friends as soon as they had landed. Using the excuse that she needed to make her own friends without her, 3) When he found her she had literally just exploded by sneezing because of fire dust going up her nose. 4) The person she had exploded was one Weiss Schnee and she did not appreciate it. And lastly 5)

* **SMASH***

"This is my baby!"

She was a _bit_ of a weapons geek….

The conversation had taken a bit of a lull when Ruby decided that it was time Jaune saw her baby. Said baby turned out to be the weapon strapped to the small of her back. With a flourish of her hand the red rectangle hunk of metal unfolded, a long handle being left as the majority of the metal formed at the head. The metal extended out to form a crescent shape from which slid out a scythe blade. Just above the grip what appeared to be a shell of a rifle moulded into the shaft of the weapon, with a large sideways grip stuck out the side and a small scope mounted on the top. It truly looked like a fearsome weapon, especially since when it got deployed its tip was plunged into the pathway for dramatic reveal with no effort whatsoever.

"Is that a scythe?"

"Yup. It's also a High-Calibre Sniper Scythe!"

Jaune whistled in appreciation. Just looking at the weapon he could tell a lot of time and effort had been spent making it. Looking at the top of the blade he could see the barrel for the rifle went right down the shaft of the scythe.

"What calibre round do you use? 7.62's?"

"Nope! 50. Cal!"

"Nice… But how do you deal with the recoil?"

"I don't."

That statement stumped Jaune for a moment. After all if you couldn't handle the recoil why use the gun in the first place? Before he could question this however, the scythe was already being folded away and put back on the small of Ruby's back. She then zoomed close to stare into Jaune's face.

"So I showed you mine. Will you show me shows?"

Jaune coughed slightly into his hand at the unintentional risqué way Ruby worded her question but decided that there was no harm in doing so. Pulling the blade out of its sheathe he showed his sword to the starry eyed Rose in front of him.

"This is Crocea Mors, the yellow death."

Ruby immediately snatched the blade out of his hands, much to Jaune's surprise, and started to give the blade a thorough examination.

"The blade is so finely balanced, it's well maintained and the metal is some of the highest quality I've ever seen despite it looking like it was forged ages ago! It's amazing! What does it do?!"

"Well the sheathe extends into a shield…"

As Jaune said this he pulled his sheathe from his belt and placed his arm through the strap on its back. With a flick of his arm the sheathe extended outwards, transforming into its shield form with the double crescent symbol proudly on display.

"So cool! What else!?"

"And that's it."

"Huh?"

"Crocea Mors is a very old weapon Ruby, made in a time weapons didn't really mechashift. Its shield form at the time it was forged was probably quite advanced. It's an old family heirloom that gets passed down to male heir to male heir."

Jaune gently took his blade back from a dumfounded Ruby's hands, which seemed to shake her out of stupor.

"Well it's still cool. Not everyone has an appreciation for the classics these days. Hang on…. Jaune why do you have your shield out like that?"

Ruby pointed to the arm that wielded the shield in question. Unlike a normal shield it was not held by Jaune's hand. It was instead strapped to his arm which left his hand to be exposed outside the shield

"That's so I can use this alongside Crocea Mors."

With his shield still on his arm he pulled out from the holster on his hip the same revolver he had pulled out earlier that day. Ruby eyes reignited with her passion for weapons as she zoomed close to look at it. At first glance the gun looked like it was once a simple revolver but ruby could see that it had been heavily modified. It's most noticeable change was the large side chamber attached to the side to the handgun. Through a small gap in the metal Ruby could see bullets curving around inside, confirming it was some sort of ammo extender. Around the barrel was a metal brace that had a small pipe leading back to a smaller chamber just above the handle. The chamber glowed a harsh red light due to the dust inside with a button trigger on the side to activate the mechanism. All together the handgun looked impressive, despite the modifications…..Unique appearance.

"The side attachment allows the gun to hold 24 shots as opposed to the standard 6, and the red dust allows the bullets to travel at much faster speeds than normal. I call her the peacemaker."

With his bit said he holstered the handgun, sheathed the sword and collapsed the shield while placing it back on his hip.

"Of course I have other weapons as well. But they are with my luggage at the moment, figured I wouldn't need them on the first day."

"What else do you use? A shotgun? A bow? A high tech Rain gun? Tell me TELL ME **TELL ME!"**

"Well that's…A secret."

"Meanie .So… Do you know where we need to go?"

"What? I was following you!"

* * *

After wandering the grounds for what seemed like hours (it was really only 30 minutes) they eventually found out where they needed to go and made their way into the main hall. Unlike them the other students had been paying attention to where they needed to go and as such the hall was crowded with their peers. While Jaune was content to stand there and wait for… whatever they were waiting for Ruby's eyes scanned the crowd of unimportant faces until she spotted a veritable sea of yellow hair.

"There's my sister! I'll see you later Jaune!"

And just like that, she was gone in a red blur. Literally, one moment she was standing in front of him and the next she was gone leaving behind a trail of red rose petals in her wake. Jaune kept a straight face as she sped off, his face getting pelted by some of the petals from the blowback wind.

"Well..." he stated picking the petals off his face and brushing them off his clothes "I guess I know what Ruby's semblance is now."

Jaune looked around the hall with a bored expression on his face. The people around him seemed so bland and characterless that they might as well of been black silhouettes. Jaune's eyes continued to roam the hall before he too spotted the long flowing locks of blonde Ruby had spotted moments ago. With nothing better to do he made his way over to the now 3 woman group talking amongst themselves. He recognised Ruby straight away and for what little she had spoken about her sister he guessed the blonde was Yang. It was the white themed girl he didn't recognise.

Her long white hair flowed down to her waist, tied up into a side ponytail held in place by a tiara like hairband. Her pale complexion matched her light blue eyes. A thin scar overlaid her left eye but it was clear she had not lost vision in the eye. A sliver necklace hung around her neck, a long sleeved white and light blue dress jacket with red inlay covered her arms and top with a similar coloured dress that reached up to her breast line and went down halfway to her knees. Along the bottom of the dress and sleeves were patterns of snowflakes sewn into the fabric. Around her waist was a ribbon of the same colour as her ensemble tied into a knot on the front. Held in place by the ribbon were small sliver pouches around the back and her weapon, which was a long rapier sword with a rotating chamber at the base of the cross guard. To finish the outfit she wore white combat boots with red inlay. In Jaune's humble opinion she looked like the most beautiful girl he had ever saw. It was love at first sight. His own personal snow angel.

"There you are you buffoon! Do you know how lucky we were when you caused that explosion today!? You could have very well knocked us off of the cliff side!"

That was until she started having a go at Ruby. Then his snow angel turned into a ice queen. As Jaune made his way closer to the conversation the clearer he could hear it.

"Oh no! It's the cranky white lady! Save me dearest sister!" yelled Ruby as she hid behind her bigger sister's form.

"Oh my god you actually exploded….." spoke Yang with an equal mix of deadpan, disbelief and a strange amount of pride.

"Are you this simpleton's sister? You need to teach your sister basic safety skills. She nearly got us both killed today!"

"I said I was sorry!"

At this Yang's face broke out of its stupor and hardened in a frown. "Ok Ice Queen you need to chill. Ruby obviously didn't mean it and is very sorry for causing it. Just let it go."

With that Ruby speed around her sister, hands clasped in front of her in forgiveness.

"Yeah. All I want is to make it up to you and be friends….. Wait did you just make an ice pun?"

"Ok sure let's be friends."

At this Ruby forgot about her sister and turned around to face Weiss with a disbelieving look.

"Really?"

"Of course. Then we can go shopping, paint our fingernails and talk about cute boys all day! Like tall blonde and scraggy over there!"

With a flourish of her finger she aimed behind her in the direction of Jaune without looking. What Weiss didn't know was that Jaune had been moving closer to the conversation during the arguing so when her finger shot out it stopped just short of prodding his chest plate. Due to this Jaune stopped in his tracks with a confused look on his face.

"Did you just call me cute?"

With a small yelp Weiss leaped forward, turned around and went to slap the individual that had snuck up behind her. What actually happened was that Weiss stuck his face, then she immediately clutched the hand that did so in pain. Leaving a still surprised Jaune standing there with a quickly fading hand print on his face.

"Uh…. You ok?"

"DO I LOOK OK YOU MORON!? Good lord what are you made of, pure metal!?"

"Flesh and bone, last I checked."

With Weiss currently tending to her hand Yang made her way over to examine the new male. After a quick look over she looked back to the still in agony Weiss.

"Didn't you also say scraggy? If so I don't know who you was looking at but it couldn't be him. Nice to meet you, names Yang."

With this she stuck out her hand for a greeting. Jaune reached out with his own to meet hers. They met with a hearty smack as both figures laid on some strength into the shake.

"Jaune. Ruby did mention she had a sister but you weren't what I was expecting."

"Different mothers."

"What do you know, just like my siblings."

With that they broke off the handshake with Jaune turning around to speak with Weiss. Because of this he was completely unaware of Yang suddenly frowning at his back.

"Look Weiss I think both of you need to apologise."

"What!?"

"Ruby has already said she was sorry for sneezing on your dust. And to be fair Weiss you shouldn't have been shaking a vial of dust in her face in the first place. I mean you're the daughter of the world's leading dust company right? Surely you would make sure the vial is sealed properly…."

Weiss's face had started to slowly turn red with anger as Jaune explained his case, completely unaware of the look of murderous rage he was getting for his troubles. The more he rambled the brighter her face got. Just as Weiss opened her mouth to give the blonde a verbal lashing a tapping sound spread across the hall, distracting the group and bringing the attention to the main stage. Stood there behind the podium with his mug in hand and Professor Goodwitch to the side was Professor Ozpin, looking no older than he did 15 years ago. Ozpin set his mug down and scanned the crowd. Once he had everyone's attention he cleared his throat and prepared to speak.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

With his piece spoken Ozpin left the podium and started to make his way out the hall. Leaving a confused crowd to Miss Goodwitch as she started to explain what would be happening with lodgings tonight due to them not being assigned rooms until they were proper students. As she spoke about everyone sleeping in one of Beacon's halls for tonight Jaune and the group were left as puzzled about Ozpin's speech as everyone else.

"Well… That was a speech." Stated Jaune with some hesitation in his tone.

"Did anyone seem to think he wasn't really thinking about what he was saying?" asked Ruby to the group.

"Well it certainly left me inspired and motivated to learn." Yang said, sarcasm dripping form every word.

"Did it seem like he was staring at me?" questioned Jaune to which he received 2 shrugs.

Weiss, her anger now dissolved due to the interrupting speech, decided to simply walk away from the group before she got a migraine. Ruby seeing her start to walk off zipped in front of her and tried to make amends.

"Weiss I'm really am sorry for today. I just want to make it up to you somehow."

"You want to make it up to me?"

Ruby vigorously nodded her head. Weiss reached into one of her pouches and pulled out a small pamphlet which she then handed over to Ruby. Ruby took it out of Wiess's hands and looked at the cover. On it was a man wearing a dunce's cap while holding a vial of dust in his hand with the title _Dust for Dummies._ Weiss then leaned forward next to Ruby's ear, said

"Read this. And then never talk to me again."

And walked away from the group. Leaving behind a depressed looking Ruby clutching the pamphlet, a frowning Yang with her arms crossed, and a straight faced Jaune staring at her back as she blended into the crowd. The 3 of them stayed like that for a couple of seconds before Jaune spoke his mind.

"Wow what a bitch."

"LANGUAGE!"

* * *

Ozpin walked down the corridors of Beacon as he made his way back to his office. A nostalgia trip was in full swing flowing through his head. He remembered walking these halls when he first came to Beacon, when he was a boy trying to play a man. He sighed as a particular memory involving him and Andrew flashed through his mind, that being the time that they had pranked another team by setting booby traps in their own dorm room. Their leader had neon green hair for so long he ended up owning the look.

15 years since Andrew offered that proposal. 15 years he hasn't seen hair or hide of Andrew after he refused. Ozpin knew he was getting distracted my old memories. It was why this year's speech seemed rushed and hastily put together, even he noticed that straight after he said it but who can blame him.

After all he had just seen the ghost of Andrew Arc in that crowd.

As the headmaster of Beacon he liked to look at each individual that applied for his school. After all these were the future protectors of humanity and it only seemed right to make sure that they were up to the challenge and that they weren't being sent to their deaths without the proper training. So before his speech he had been in his office on his personal scroll looking at the application of the students. This year's batch of students seemed to be a rather promising bunch, what with Summer's sliver eyed daughter along with her sister, the heiress to the SDC, a former White Fang member, the 4 time winner of the Mistral fighting tournament and many others beside. When he stopped on Jaune Ryan's profile however that was when he froze in shock.

At first glance there was nothing extraordinary about him. His training was standard; his family background while unusual was nothing worth of note. When it came to his weapons he only had Crocea Mors as well as a couple of modified….

" _WHAT!"_

Ozpin stared at the image on the scroll he had been using. Sure enough the first image for his weapons Cleary showed Crocea Mors expanded and unsheathed. Ozpin leant back into his chair wide eyed and speechless. Andrew Arc was not someone who would give up his family blade for anyone. It had to be a fake of some kind. So when we delivered his speech he scanned the crowd to find Jaune to make sure. All he found was the genuine article strapped to Jaune's waist. Once he saw that Ozpin started to notice the little details as well. His posture as he stood still listening to his speech. The look in his eye as he absorbed every word of his speech. He even started to fidget in the same way by thumbing the pummel of his sword. Slowly but surely despite looking nothing alike Jaune Ryan's image started to fade in that hall and replacing it was Andrew Arc. As he reached the lift that went to his office he reached his conclusion.

Jaune Ryan was Andrew Arc's son. The problem was that at the time Jaune would have been born, Andrew was a happily married man for several years with no reason to cheat on Sophia. As the lift doors started to shut on Ozpin he muttered to himself.

"Jaune Ryan….. Who are you?"

* * *

Yang laid back onto her sleeping bag and gave a very exaggerated sigh of content. It had been a long day for the students to be and only now could they start to relax. The hall that had been filled with students listening to Ozpin's speech was now filled with the same students now getting ready for were already fast asleep while others were sitting and talking amongst themselves. Yang turned over to her side to look at her sister. Like everyone else she had changed into a set of sleeping clothes, a black vest with white pyjama bottoms adorned with red roses.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang proclaimed to her sister as she propped herself on her elbows to better talk with Ruby.

"Yeah. I'm just not sure that dad would approve of all the boys here though. "Ruby replied not looking up from her task.

"I know I do." Yang purred out as she looked out amongst the crowd. Several of the boys had decided to sleep shirtless and as a result were giving Yang and any other female who wanted to look a free show. While Yang wasn't looking to get with any of the guys here, that doesn't mean she couldn't enjoy the view.

Looking back to Ruby Yang noticed that she was writing something down into a book. Positioning herself to look over Ruby's shoulder she asked

"I didn't know you kept a diary."

Ruby jumped at the sudden voice in her ear before she started to lightly beat her sister with the book.

"It's not my diary!"

"So you do keep one!"

"Shut up Yang! I'm just writing a letter for my friends back at our old school Signal. To let them know what Beacons like and to keep in touch you know."

"Aww that's sooooo cute!"

Yang received a high speed pillow to the face for that comment, knocking her back onto her sleeping bag.

"I didn't get to bring any of my friends to school with me unlike you! It just feels weird not knowing anybody here except you."

"Then you just need to make some new ones Ruby! I mean what about Jaune? He seems..." Yang's face scrunched up into a cringe for a moment. Like the words were bitter coming out of her mouth. "Nice... That's one friend!"

"And Weiss? Pretty sure she counts as a negative friend so that evens me out to having no friends again."

"I don't think that's how that works Ruby. That means you have 1 friend and 1 enemy. Also I'm already your friend?"

Both girls turned around to the source of the new voice to find Jaune standing there. A simple white top and black shorts made up his sleeping attire while he held a sleeping bag under his arm.

"Do you mind if I bunk here with you guys? There's not much room anywhere else."

Before Yang could answer Ruby immediately responded with a quick and positive "sure!"

Jaune gave a smile in thanks and set up his sleeping bag next to the sisters.

"Soooo vomit boy, are you ready for the initiation test that's happening tomorrow?"

At that Jaune shot a look of hurt over in Ruby's direction because of her sister's question to which she held up her hands.

"I didn't tell her anything!"

"…. Yes Yang I think I'll be fine with any test they put in front of us. What about you 2?"

"Yang's really strong so there won't be any problems for her. As for myself I can't wait! No more awkward talking to people as I struggle to fit in. I'll get to show why I fit in and it'll be Crescent Rose doing all the talking!"

"I know what you mean. Give me 10 beowolfs out for your blood over an awkward conversation I want no part of any day. At least I'm allowed to shoot the Beowolfs when they make me too uncomfortable."

"By the way, what ammo do you use for your revolver?"

"Standard .357 rounds, But I use red dust to help increase the speed of the bullet."

"Why not use red dust in the actual rounds?"

"Because that is too expensive for me to make. Not to mention I don't know how to make custom rounds like that."

"I can show you how to make some. As for the cost Beacon gives us a little bit of money for maintaining ammo and dust."

"You would do that for me?"

"Sure! What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"

"Thanks… Ruby."

As Yang watched their conversation continue about ammo, dust, grim and hunter life in general continue she let out a small smile, different to the cocky and cheerful ones she usually gave. Her sister was finally coming out of her shell. Granted it was only with Jaune at the moment but he was a massive confidence boost for her, and should she not be able to make other friends she would still have Jaune to talk to. She watched as Jaune gestured with his hands as he conversed with Ruby about what grim was more deadly in a fight (A Deathstalker or a Beringel were the front running choices at the moment) when Yang's eyes were drawn to his left hand like before Ozpin's speech, which caused her smile to die on her face. Because under his hand on his wrist Jaune sported a tattoo that was mirrored on his other hand, an image of a simple 3 chain link.

Yang wasn't against tattoos, quite the contrary. In fact if it wasn't because her dad would literally flail her alive if he caught her with a tattoo before she had left home she would have had several by now. So the problem wasn't the tattoo. It was the scar underneath that. Now Yang considered herself quite the party girl. The energy she felt in the clubs at night was intoxicating, the way she could dance her troubles away on the dance floor, and to top it off a nice strawberry sunrise in hand for a refreshing drink. So because of this she was aware of another aspect of the night life that while she took no part off, she could easily stop the signs of someone who did. So when she first saw the scar on Jaune's wrist which looked suspiciously like a puncture wound, say from repeated use of a needle…..

Jaune might be Ruby's first friend at Beacon but there was no way Yang was going to let him turn her baby sister into a drugie.

Yang's train of thought was broken with Jaune standing up and excusing himself to go to the bathroom. As he walked away Yang stared into Jaune's back, trying to ignore the definition of his muscles she could see behind his shirt. Yang wasn't willing to let Jaune remain as Ruby's only friend so she needed to get Ruby interacting with other people fast. But that could be done another time. For now she would be content with some good old fashioned sisterly teasing.

"So you and Jaune are getting really close, you gonna pop the question yet?"

Yang expected sputtering, maybe a red face or even another high speed pillow aimed at her. When she got nothing she turned around to find Ruby not paying attention to her at all. She followed Ruby's line of sight to find her staring at a girl sitting on her own, leaning against the back wall of the hall reading a book in her hand with the pages lit up by candlelight. This lead Yang to ask

"Who's she?"

"I don't know. She helped me when I exploded in front of Weiss but left before I could say thank you."

Huh, seems like fate gave the perfect opportunity for Ruby to make another friend.

At this Yang felt a smile grow on her face. Quickly standing to her feet and yanking Ruby to hers in the process she started to drag Ruby over to the mystery girl while stating.

"Well this is the perfect moment to thank her properly now isn't it?"

Ignoring Ruby's cries of protest Yang continued to drag her sister to the girl who now had quite clearly seen them approach her. But that didn't put Yang off at all, she was determined to get Ruby another friend.

And if it helped Ruby forget about Jaune? All the better.

* * *

Jaune splashed some hot water onto his face as he quickly washed it in preparation to go to sleep. The bathroom was a simple affair with white tiled walls and a blue coloured floor, with urinals and stalls lining the back wall with sinks and one huge mirror on the opposite wall. After giving his face a good scrub Jaune lifted his head, leant his arms on the sink basin and stared at the reflection in the mirror as he lost himself to his thoughts.

" _This is it. I'm here. After a year of planning, forging documents creating backstories and improving myself I'm at Beacon at last. After the initiation test tomorrow I'll be a fully-fledged Huntsman….. In training. Then it's simply a matter of using the 4 years to train myself into a Grim killing machine. At the end of his I'll have a team that I can trust to help me protect my little sisters and a career where the skills I was made with can actually bring about some good."_

Jaune continued to stare at his mirror image, taking in the features on the surface. Deep blue eyes sat on his calm face with small bags underneath. The smallest hints of blond stubble wrapped around his chin. His skin was pristine and freshly cleaned with some small droplets of water clinging to his cheeks. Jaune raised his right hand to rub at the sleet in his tired eyes. When he pulled back his hand he was greeted by…

 _A terrified face, blood that was not his own specked his face and hair, his eyes twitching slightly in the direction of the numerous noises that filled the air. Creaks and groans of old pipes, faraway screams of raving madmen and women. But they were muted by the constant dripping of a water pipe as water flowed out the exposed pipe onto the ruined tiled floor of the bathroom, one drip at a time. Jaune placed his bloody monkey wrench down on the side of the sink and turned the tap on the only working sink. The water came out surprisingly clear as he cupped some water into his shaking hands to wash away the blood that stained his face. He scrubbed his skin with more force than what was needed causing his skin to go red raw. A sudden crash not that far away grabbed his attention to the exit of the restaurant bathroom before he warily turned back to the small mirror above his sink. He looked at his reflection to see…_

Tired eyes coming back into focus as he brought himself back to the present. A weary sigh escaped his lips as he reached his left hand down to cup some more warm water for his face. When his hand struck something cold and solid, his brow scrunched up in confusion before he looked down. The sink bowl that had been full of warm water had was now filled by a block of ice shaped like the bowl. Even around the rim of the inlayed sink were frozen water droplets formed by the splash back of the earlier running water. Jaune looked down to his left hand that was still leaning against the sink to see the curled up fist covered in a layer of ice, with small icicles sticking out of every different angle.

Jaune pulled his fist from the rim, (which took some effort due to ice building around his hand sticking it to the bowl) gave the still closed fist a once over while muttering a small "god damm it." Jaune shook his hand and the built up ice around it disappeared, leaving the hand its usual colour, warm and perfectly normal. Then with hand still raised while looking down at the frozen sink he clicked his fingers. Immediately in the centre of the bowl a small fiery implosion sparked to life, superheating the frozen water leaving it to melt and return to a bowl of warm water. As if nothing had happened. Jaune shook his hand once again, shaking away the fiery brimstone motif it had gained before pulling the plug and sending the water down the drain.

"Need to be more careful. That could have raised some questions if anyone saw that…"

As the last drop of water left the sink he walked out of the bathroom and made his way back into the hall. By now nearly everyone had already fallen asleep with only a couple of people left still getting ready. Jaune made his way over to where his sleeping bag was to find that Ruby and Yang had fallen asleep in each other's arms. Ruby's smaller frame was curled up into Yang's larger embrace with a peaceful expression. One of Yang's arms was draped over Ruby protectively while the other was sprawled out to her side while Yang's mouth hung wide open, a small amount of drool running down her cheek. Jaune chuckled to himself at the sight before making his way to his own sleeping bag. He sat down into his sleeping bag and from a small pouch on the bag pulled out a rather crudely made doll.

The head was made of a baseball with red studs and bent wire covering the face, the arms were made of rope with a knot for one hand while the other ended with a thimble with a small drill bit attached to it. On its back looked to be a crudely made tank with the rest of it looked to be made out of the remains of a normal plush doll. The doll was made for him by one of his little sisters as a goodbye present and "to help protect him from all the meanies." Jaune gave the doll a pat on its head before sitting it down by his side. With that done Jaune leant back, closed his eyes and went to sleep.

 ***SSSSSNNNNOOOORRRREEEEE***

That's if Yang would stop snoring. Jaune sighed, covered his ears with his pillow and muttered.

"It's going to be a long night."

* * *

 **So we are finally at beacon and the first day is over. Next chapter is going to finally have the initiation test and we'll meet the rest of the main cast. I was going to end the chapter at the start of the test but this seemed a more natural cut off point. as always let me know what you loiked and didn't like so I can improve. **After all I better my writing if no one tells me what's wrong. See you next time!****


	3. Can't I take a witten test instead?

**Hello there guys! So it came to my attention that I didn't really label this as a semi-crossover story with Bioshock when I first put this story up. so the description has been altered slightly to reflect that. ** **Also the reason for the long wait was because when the first chapter was published I was halfway finished with chapter 2. I didn't start this chapter until chapter 2 was completely finished. ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **I'm a slow writer so these things take time for me************************************

 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **Anyway enough delays lets get on with it!************************************************************************

* * *

 _Jaune dreams that night consisted of grim horses. That was to say he had nightmares all night long. Jaune dreamed like any other person most of the time, his dreams normally consisted of random plots and stories, such as men with monkey tails yelling at each other, a search for a nomad in a desert or some idiot's playing card games on motorcycles. However a small amount of the time his dreams became a little more grounded in reality, and he would dream of his past. About a city under the sea._

 _At the moment Jaune was experiencing a number 3 out of the "freaky dreams and what they mean" handbook. A nightmare which spliced together different images and sounds to make a jumbled mess that freaks you out. Everywhere Jaune turned he saw flashes of that horrible city. The blood stained tiles of an operating theatre, complete with a mad doctor cutting up the body in front of him like a Picasso painting. A deep freeze storage locker filled with fish and bodies alike hanging from meat hooks. The ruined streets littered with corpses and debris as a cascade of water fell from the glass ceiling above. And then came the sounds, screams of raving lunatics, groans of breaking and broken pipes, the constant pitter-patter of water droplets impacting tiled floors. Jaune spun around, franticly looking for an escape from the images flashing in front of him to no avail. The snapshots followed and persisted everywhere he looked even as he curled in on himself to escape them._

 _The dream came to its crescendo finish as it turned into a number 12; a lone figure standing on their own telling you that you were worthless. The figure in question, wearing his brown quality suit with his golf club in hand and walking into focus was none other than Andrew Arc, the founder of his nightmare. The flashings images and loud sounds became more muted with each step that he took until finally he stood in front of the now uncurled Jaune sitting on the floor._

" _But now that I see you here, face to face, blood to blood I have to say only this." At this he leaned down to look Jaune directly in the eyes. Deep terrified blue stared into cold unfeeling brown before Jaune locked onto the man's lips as they parted once more to say._

" _You are my greatest disappointment."_

 _As the man leant back up the head of the 9-iron in Andrew's hand swung from underneath, catching the underside of Jaune's chin. Not striking him, but simply resting there, causing Jaune's head to rise up. As Andrew rose to his full height he pushed the head of the club upwards, causing Jaune to painfully stand as his head was pulled up with it._

" _Now Jaune, wake up."_

 _Andrew pulled his club away from underneath Jaune's chin, twirled the club in his hand so that he gripped the club for an overhead swing…_

" _Wake up._ _Would you kindly._ _"_

 _And smashed it into his head._

* * *

Jaune's eyes snapped wide open in a panic as his right hand slapped up to his mouth to silence the scream before it could come out. His breathing started to hyperventilate as his pinprick eyes darted around the room looking for the golfing implement that was going to hit him. After a few seconds of not seeing doom by 9-iron streaming to his face Jaune moved his hand and forced himself to take shaky but deep breaths to calm his nerves. As he did he uncurled his shaking left hand from the fist it had made, not noticing the small arcs of electrical current jumping along the fingers before dying out. Jaune took in his surroundings as he got his breathing under control. The sleeping bodies of his future classmates littered the hall, most of them not even disturbed from their positions last night when he went to sleep. He looked over to his side to see the pair of sisters still deep in their sleep. Yang's snoring had petered out over the night, reducing itself to soft blows of air rather that the chainsaw it had been. However their positions hadn't changed during the night. Yang still held ruby in an embrace with both sisters showing a peaceful smile on their faces.

Jaune smiled at the scene, it reminded him of Sasha, the eldest of his little sisters sleeping next to the others and hugging them if they got scared in the night. Jaune tore his gaze form the pair to look on his other side to see his "protector" sitting there, having not moved an inch during the night (not that it surprised him. If anything he would be worried if it had.) As he rose into a sitting position Jaune picked the limp doll up with his left hand and stared at it, a frown forming on his face. The doll stared back, almost as if its lifeless features was asking "What?"

"When my sister gave you to me she said that you would protect me. Now I know you can't protect me in the literal sense, because you know, you're a doll. But at the very least could you help me when it comes to having nightmares? I mean they count as 'meanie's' right?"

The doll didn't answer back of course, but its lifeless stare seemed to suggest that "he was big enough that he shouldn't need its protection." Jaune sighed as his right hand raised up to rub his temples and to clear the sleep out of his eyes.

"Come on Jaune. The doll can't talk back, why are you even trying? You know that talking to inanimate objects is the first sign of madness….. Or was that talking to yourself?"

Jaune turned to look at the big clock hanging in the hall, very eager to distract himself from the idea that he's slowly going mad only to groan silently as he saw that he had woken up early. Very early. So early in fact that the others wouldn't start to wake up for another 2 hours or so. Jaune leant back, laid on his sleeping bag and stared at the ceiling as he pondered what to do. It was pointless to try to fall asleep again. It was only 2 hours of sleep he would get and that was even if he managed to fall asleep, the nightmare he just had left him too wired at the moment. He didn't fancy staying in here waiting the 2 hours either as he was sure he _would_ go mad from boredom.

With a small nod to himself Jaune sat back up and started to pack his sleeping bag away. Jaune looked down at the doll on the floor, (which Jaune swore had a smug look on its baseball face.) He was tempted to leave it behind but decided to pack it away as well. No point upsetting his little sister just because the doll was being an asshole. With his gear in hand and his clothes in the other he made his way over to the showers to get himself cleaned up and changed. Once in his usual attire he would store the rest of his belongings. After that….

A 2 hour wander around the grounds of Beacon sounded like a good time waster.

* * *

Jaune walked down the white bricked path as his eyes scanned around at the scenery surrounding him. The old architecture of the school offered a very pleasing view and kept his eyes entertained as he walked on a circular courtyard path back to the school. Jaune looked over to the horizon to see the sun while not having risen had started to illuminate the sky in a lovely mix of red's and orange's. The walk had certainly helped to both wake himself up and to calm himself down from the nightmare. It didn't help keep his mind from wandering however.

" _Been a while since I dreamed of that place. Been a lot longer since I had a nightmare as well. Figures that they would sync up together when I needed a good night's sleep. Must have really been worrying about today without realising it. Although I wonder if it means something else? I always dreams of that shit Atlantis if something big is coming up. Maybe I should be more careful today?"_

Jaune was broken out of his musing's when his eyes registered something big in front of him. With his attention back on track he looked forward to see an impressive looking statue in front of him. It depicted a rather standard looking scene of hunter's and Grim. A cliff side shot up from the flat base rising up into the sky with two figures stood atop it. Underneath the cliff was a grim resembling a Beowolf, an alpha perhaps if the number of spikes it wore was any indication? But Jaune didn't really bother looking at the grim, he was too busy looking at the top figures. The faces of the 2 were very generic looking because of the weathering of time, however it was clear they were a man and a woman by their frames. The woman stood just behind her male counterpart leaning on a double headed axe, her face and messy hair concealed by the hooded cape she wore. While the man stood at the cliff edge, his own hooded head held high as his stony gaze looked up to his weapon pointed to the sky, a simple looking longsword. A longsword that looked very familiar…

"Julius Arc."

Jaune nearly leapt out his skin as the unknown voice sounded out from behind him. Jaune turned to look at the owner of the voice to find headmaster Ozpin standing there, in his hands his ever present cane and coffee mug.

"Professor Ozpin! You scared me half to death sir..."

Ozpin chuckled to himself for a moment. "Forgive me. You were staring so intently at the man I thought you would like to know his name."

Jaune started to rub the back of his head in embarrassment. "To be honest sir I kind of got lost in thought while looking at it, I didn't get the best sleep… Wait, did you say Julius Arc?"

"Indeed I did. This school was built at the end of the Great War 80 years ago. To help train new huntsman after that bloody period. The statue is to commemorate the lives lost, and to try and inspire others to take up the mantle. The man standing there was Julius Arc, one of the best hunters of his time. He even used a special sword, One that at the time was quite remarkable because its sheathe turned into a shield."

Jaune's face started to turn white as Ozpin continued to speak. He turned his face to look at the statue to try and hide his palling complexion. Jaune's blue eyes looked over at Ozpin to see if he was looking at him. Brown eyes stared back in the same way as Ozpin's head continued to look at the statue, causing Jaune to quickly look away as if he hadn't been staring.

"The sword was an Arc family heirloom being used by Julius's father, Julius himself and by his son Andrew Arc. That was of course before Andrew Arc went missing about 15 years ago…"

Jaune continued to look at the statue, sweating bullets as Ozpin continued his tale about the statue. Blue eyes peaked over once again, only to be caught as Ozpin's face was now fully turned to face him. Ozpin's face betrayed no emotion, his brown eyes staring straight through him.

"The sword even had a name. A name that used to terrify the enemy on the battlefield. A name that when whispered in their ranks sealed their defeat. Its double crescent emblem on the shield rallied any ally that saw the sun shine off its reflection. Its name was Crocea Mors... Sound familiar?"

Jaune knew he had been caught out by the professor in front of him. He could only watch, like a deer caught in headlights as Ozpin turned to look at him fully. That same blank expression on his face. Jaune's mind whirled as he wondered what Ozpin was going to do. He had known that Ozpin had been good friends with Andrew Arc before their falling out. He had known that it was risky coming to Beacon but he didn't have a choice. He couldn't go to any of the other academies because then he wouldn't be able to see his little sister's. Moving his family to another kingdom was not an option either, they were barely making ends meet as it was.

Jaune mind whirled as he tried to think of a way out of this. Should he run? No he wouldn't make it more than 10 feet. Should he fight? No he wouldn't last more than 10 seconds, especially since he didn't have his weapons. No matter what idea Jaune had the result stayed the same. He couldn't see a way out of this. His only choice would be to answer his questions truthfully and hope for the best.

"Why did you want to become a huntsman Jaune?"

Oh… that wasn't the question he was expecting.

"Well… I want to make sure that I can protect and care for my family. Fighting is really the only thing I'm good at so I figured that I could make a decent wage out of becoming a huntsman. I mean what else is a guy like me gonna be able to do..."

"I see. Only your family?"

"Of course not no!"

"But they come first right?"

Ozpin went quiet after the lack of an answer and just continued to stare at Jaune, causing him to start fidgeting on the spot. He was somewhat glad that he didn't have his sword by his side at the moment; he was sure his nervous tick of thumbing the pommel of the blade would be seen as a threatening gesture. Not that the headmaster of a combat academy couldn't put him into the ground anyway.

"It would seem Mr Ryan that fate has given me an interesting puzzle to decipher. Your arrival is paradoxical and I'm sure that there is much more to you than what your profile states. Then there's the fact that you're carrying around the family sword of a dead man that hasn't been seen in over 15 years."

"Would you believe me if I said it was a replica?"

"The point is that I should drag you to my office, sit you down on a seat and have a long in-depth chat to find out exactly who you are. However it would appear I don't have time at the moment."

As Ozpin finished speaking he turned away from Jaune and stared out to the horizon. Jaune followed his gaze to see the sun start to peak over the edge as morning properly broke.

"So I have a proposal for you Mr Ryan. Take the initiation test with the others. Prove that you deserve to be here. Prove that you want to become strong enough to protect those you care about. Then once you're on a team, integrated with the school proper... Then we'll have that chat."

With that Ozpin walked away leaving Jaune speechless as he stared at his back. He was not expecting the morning to turn out like that. Perhaps it would have been better if he had stayed in the hall with the others.

Still, for now he was free to focus on the test today and not what Ozpin thought of him. That 'chat' he had mentioned sounded foreboding as all hell but Ozpin seemed willing to wait. Jaune could use this time to grab his family and run far away but he figured it would do him no favours. A man in Ozpin's position must have ways of tracking people down. Besides…

 ***GROWL***

His stomach just pointed out that he could decide on his best plan of action after he have his fill of the breakfast spread waiting for him at the cafeteria. Placing a hand on the growling beowolf inside his gut to muffle it Jaune started to make his way so he could fuel up for the day.

" _I wonder if the pancakes here are as good as mama Tenenbaum's."_

* * *

Breakfast had been very delicious. Jaune had arrived at the cafeteria along with the general bulk of the other students to be. Because of this the line had been a little long but nothing that Jaune couldn't handle. What he couldn't handle was the sheer size of selection that they had to offer. If Jaune could imagine having it for breakfast then it was there. Sausages, omelettes, bacon, waffles and cereals including Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes. (Jaune made sure to stay clear of those.) He also swore he could see stuff like haddocks, croissants and black pudding on some of the plates. The only problem was that there had been no pancakes, Jaune had seen them all piled onto a single plate in front of a ginger haired girl. He had started to make his way over to ask if she could share but quickly backed away when he witnessed the genocide of all pancakes in Beacon.

"Note to self, don't put your hand anywhere near that girl's mouth."

Despite the lack of his favourite breakfast treat however Jaune was easily able to eat his fill. So once the last morsel was down the hatch Jaune had made his way down to the locker room to grab his combat gear.

Now it was against school policy to walk around the school grounds with your weapons. This may have been because trying to control hormonal teenagers with super strength, speed and an assortment of other super powers could be quite the hassle already without them being armed. The locker room was the place every student of Beacon stored their weapons when they were not in use, so after Ozpin's speech like everyone else he had placed his gear into a locker.

The interesting thing about the lockers at Beacon was that they were more that simple storage lockers. The lockers were designed to sync up to a student's scroll. Not only did this make the lockers only able to be opened by their synced scroll, because the lockers were fitted with rocket propulsion the students could send a signal to the locker and have it quickly fly towards their location so they had access to their weapons whenever they needed them. But while this system was very useful and it had saved many lives there was 1 massive downfall.

" _Why are the lockers not in numerical order!? Look at these numbers! 117, 626, 343, 007 why are they so out of order! Also I am certain that I placed my stuff much closer to the door! I must have remembered differently but how could I? It's not like these lockers move themselves…"_

Jaune continued to look at the numbers of the lockers as he walked down the hall. He saw that he passed by Ruby and Yang as he continued his trek but he didn't stop to say hello as he was too focused on finding his stuff, after what seemed like millennia he saw it. The shiny silver numbers 636 painted on the locker that contained his gear. And it was blocked off by two girls talking to each other. One he recognised straight away as Weiss. The other however was a new face.

She wore her red hair in a waist length ponytail with a brown circlet inlayed with 2 small, green, teardrop-shaped emeralds underneath it. Her vivid green eyes gazed at Weiss with a polite if strained look. For her top she wore a brown leather corset with long dark brown gloves reaching past her elbows. Around her waist was a bronze plate adorned with a spear and shield symbol as well as a red sash that wrapped around her black elastic A-line mini skirt. Her legs were covered in bronze armoured greaves and cuisses that reached down to her mid-calf high heel boots. To finish his observation Jaune spotted on her back a gold and red coloured short sword and round shield combo.

Both Weiss and the new girl were deep in conversation with each other. The new girl with a more wooden expression on her face than Weiss, who didn't seem to notice how awkward her conversational partner was acting. Jaune hadn't really paid much attention to that however. He just wanted to get his things. So with a "finally" muttered to himself he made his way over to the pair.

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos had hoped that Beacon would have been a fresh start for herself. When it had come to choosing a huntsman school she had decided that instead of going to Haven, Mistral's academy she would instead come to Beacon and try to escape her fame.

Obviously that hadn't worked.

When she had landed in Vale after her trip from her home town she had a wonderful 15 minutes being anonymous. Then some middle age man spotted her in the crowd, yelled out "oh my Oum! It's Pyrrha Nikos!" and there went the neighbourhood. After that the rest of her day was spent talking to fans, having pictures taken and signing anything people had on them at the time. (The man who asked for his hotdog signed was an interesting one.) When she could see the news trucks started to come in that was when she made herself scarce, leaping to the rooftops and running to the school bullheads.

She hated her fame. She hated it because it made people treat her differently to anyone else. It made them want to become friends with her because of the prestige of having her as a friend. People took one look at her and just saw "Pyrrha Nikos 4 time Mistral fighting tournament champion!" They saw "Pyrrha Nikos The Invincible Girl!"

No one ever saw "Pyrrha Nikos the girl that was scared stiff of spiders." Or "Pyrrha Nikos the girl that slept in a bedtime burrito using her blankets." No one cared enough to see what was past her fame. Even at Beacon people had been pretty awestruck when he had seen her. Although they seemed to have better tack than the general public and so far hadn't really approached her yet.

Except for Weiss Schnee.

To be fair on her she had been tame compared to what she thought she might have been. She had introduced herself, stated that they were some of the highest pedigree of huntresses out of the new students and that they should pair up. But that look in her eye while she had said it showed that like the others she only cared about her achievements.

"I'm just saying Pyrrha, with your unrivalled power and my unmatched smarts we'll be unstoppable! No one would be able to come close to our combined might!"

"While that may be so, I plan to let the chips fall as they may. Let fate decide what I have in store."

"Well perhaps fate will decide that we become partners."

"Oh that would be…. Grand."

Pyrrha was then distracted from conversing with Weiss by a tap on her shoulder and a quiet "excuse me". Pyrrha steeled her expression, took a quick but deep breath and turned to look at the man whose voice sounded behind her with a plastic smile on her face. The figure she saw was tall for a start, bright blonde hair and deep blue eyes staring at her. He looked rather handsome if Pyrrha was being honest. It was just a shame he was hiding his built frame with such a UGLY jumper. Pyrrha quickly snapped back to attention and focused on dealing with what he wanted. It was probably a photo or maybe an autograph.

"Hi there, can I help you with something?"

"You're standing in the way of my locker."

"Oh…. I'm sorry?"

Pyrrha stepped backwards and allowed the stranger to get access to his locker, earning a small "Thanks" for her efforts. As this mystery man fished for the scroll in his pocket he was completely unaware of a dumbstruck Weiss to his left and a wide eyed Pyrrha to his right.

" _Did… he not realise who I am? He must have got a good look at my face when I turned to face him. Did he simply not care? No I would have spotted it if that were the case. He really doesn't know who I am!"_

Pyrrha's mouth curved upwards as a small delighted smile formed. Here in front of her was the chance she had been waiting for. Someone that didn't have a biased opinion of her due to her fame. Someone that if she made a friend with them it was because they generally liked her. Pyrrha couldn't believe her luck but she wasn't going to waste this chance no way…

"Excuse me! Who do think you are?!"

" _Weiss I swear if you ruin this for me I'll use milo to cook you on a spit roast!"_

Tall, blonde and handsome turned around to look at Weiss with a confused look of his face. Before stating, "Have you forgotten who I am already Weiss? Pretty sure I introduced myself yesterday, or did you not pay attention?"

"No you idiot I mean what do you think gives you the right to barge in my conversation with Pyrrha Nikos!?"

"Who?"

With that Pyrrha stuck out her hand in front of Jaune for a proper greeting. "That would be me, Pyrrha Nikos at your service."

The man's eyes dropped down to look at her outstretched hand for a moment before his own raised up to grasp it in a firm handshake, meeting her smile with one of his own. "Jaune Ryan, the pleasures all mine."

"Have you any idea who she is you simpleton?"

"Of course I do Weiss, she just said her name was Pyrrha Nikos. Is your hearing as bad as your memory or something?"

"NO! Pyrrha Nikos is a very famous individual! She graduated top of her class before coming here!"

"And that makes her famous?"

The answer brought turned the smile on Pyrrha's face up a notch.

"Of course not... ARG! She's famous for being the 4 time Mistral fighting tournament champion!"

"Never heard of it."

The smile grew even further at that, the curve threating to start past her eye level.

"How can you not know what that is!? She's on the box of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes out there for goodness sake!"

At that Jaune's face morphed into surprise before his eyes widened in realisation. He spun on the spot to once again face Pyrrha, his hand shooting upwards and pointing at her chest before he proclaimed.

"You're the cereal girl?! You're the reason two of my sisters have toothaches due to the super sugar in your cereal!"

Time froze as the 2 female students reacted to Jaune's claim. No one uttered a sound as the silence settled like a blanket, before it was broken by a laughing Pyrrha. Jaune looked at the woman who had burst into tears of laughter with a confused expression, before it moulded into a frown.

"Why are you laughing at my sister's pain? Do you find it funny that their suffering because of your sugary evil?"

Pyrrha quickly got her laughter under control, the small giggles escaping her lips the only indication of her outburst. "No not at all. Its _giggle_ just that no one has really recognised me _snort_ for the cereal. Although I do admit while the sponsor deal was fun I do wish it was just a little bit healthier."

"A little bit? My mama ran some tests on the stuff when my sister's teeth started to hurt. Theirs about 3 times the amount of sugar in them than they advertise on the box!"

At that the smile dropped off her face. She wasn't aware of that little bit of knowledge. "Wait what? I wasn't aware they were _that bad."_

"Yeah try explaining to a couple of 7 year olds that the reason they have constant toothache is because of their favourite cereal. They can't grasp the concept. We don't even buy it anymore and they still get their hands on the stuff. The idea that my sisters might have a dealer giving it to them doesn't sit well with me…"

"If I had known that I would have never agreed to the sponsorship! I would have gone for a more healthy option."

At that a smile formed on his face. "You know… If reports about how tooth rotting the cereal actually was came out, and let's say they were brought to light by one of their sponsors…"

The smile reformed on Pyrrha's face at that comment. "Why that would cause quite the scandal. They would be forced to do a massive recall of the product, costing millions."

"It would ruin them! Of course all they would need to do would be to lower the sugar levels down and they could avoid such issues…"

Before either of them were able to speak again a noise flowed through the locker room. After that the voice of Professor Goodwitch sounded on the speakers.

" _Would all first years please report to the beacon Cliffside? The initiation test will be commencing shortly. Any student who fails to show up on time will be considered disqualified."_

"Well Pyrrha's as much as I would love to talk about breaking the hold Pumpkin Pete's has on the breakfast cereal market, I still need to put my gear on. Can we continue this discussion later?"

Pyrrha gave a small smile, checked that she had all of her stuff, (she did) and gave a nod while saying "I would love to. I'll see you out Jaune!" before walking out to the cliff on her own, Weiss having left halfway into their plans to cripple the Pumpkin Pete's brand. As she walked out to the cliff, Jaune's face kept appearing in her mind. She had made her first friend that didn't seem bothered that she was famous. And that was something she wouldn't let go to waste

Pyrrha didn't have many wants in her life. For the most part she was content with what her life gave her. The only thing she had wanted for the longest time was a friend like Jaune. Now that she had one, her next want was for Jaune to be her partner.

And what Pyrrha wanted, she made sure she got.

Unaware of the value now on his head Jaune set to work arming himself for the test. His trusty sword was strapped to his left hip while the revolver was situated on his right. The belt he picked out and strapped round his waist was lined with pockets, filled with ammo and some first aid supplies. Next from the locker he pulled out a leather sheathe void of any sword, which he placed onto his back with a clip on his armour. After that he pulled out a rather strange looking shotgun.

Imagine a double barrelled shotgun had seen a revolver on a drunken night out, decided "I'm gonna put my dick in that!" and 9 months later the revolver showed up at his door with the baby. At the base of the rifle where the buckshot was loaded was 2 revolving chambers housing 3 slots per barrel which totalled 6 shots before a reload. Jaune pulled its holder out of the locker and fixed it into place on the small of his back with the handle of the gun facing his right side. The last thing he grabbed was a small syringe filled with a lightly glowing blue liquid. Jaune quickly looked to see if anyone was watching before carefully placing it into one of his empty pouches, giving a small pat as he closed the pouch.

With that he went to close his locker before pausing at the sight of the last weapon in the locker. A hand started to reach for the item before freezing in place and retracting to his side. With a slight shake of his head he closed the door and made his way to the Cliffside. He would save that weapon for another day. Besides this was the initiation test. What encounter would he need that to deal with it anyway?

* * *

The walk to the cliff had been a sombre one. It had started with the students chatting together and generally making a lot of noise as they made their way along the Cliffside. When they started seeing ribbons tied to the wooden fence, pictures and faces they didn't recognise adored with flowers the jovial mood dropped quickly. A clear reminder about what life they were getting involved in. After a small walk with that message made crystal the students eventually found both Professors Goodwitch and Ozpin standing by a point in the cliff edge. In front of them were sliver platforms mixed into the green grass. The students quickly lined themselves on the obvious starting positions with Jaune grabbing the one furthest to the right facing the sea of green trees below. Jaune looked to his side to see the rest of his fellow students lined up with him, Ruby standing on the platform next to his. She gave a wide if not nervous smile which Jaune returned. Once everyone was in position Ozpin started to speak, gesturing to the forest below

"Welcome everyone, To Emerald Forest. This forest is one of beacons primary training grounds that you will use to hone your skills. Staff will be watching how well you perform but will not interfere with the test. It is filled with Grim so be sure that any opposition you encounter is met with the intent to kill. Do not hesitate, as they won't."

A small murmur spread throughout the group of students, the general consensus being that Professor Ozpin was not good at giving motivational speeches. Jaune ignored this as he steeled himself while standing on his starting block, focusing on the forest below as Ozpin continued talking.

"Now I know that there have been rumours floating about the school. About when you'll be placed into your teams, who your partners will be and how they will be determined. I would like to quell those rumours right now before they get out of hand. You will be placed into your teams. Today."

That caught the attention of everyone as eyes were all drawn to Ozpin. Jaune nodded to himself at the headmasters words, it would make sense to group up the students as soon as possible, after all a team formed straight away could start the process of learning to work together quicker. Jaune just wondered how they would be grouped. Would it be their choice? Perhaps they would group people up depending on their strengths or weaknesses of the individuals? Or maybe so they could make certain kinds of teams, grouping people up to make stealth teams, frontline teams or even support teams.

"In fact. As soon as you find yourself inside the forest below, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next 4 years."

Or it could be decided by something stupid like that.

The student body were silenced by that note, the only one who wasn't was his next platform neighbour who cried out a single "WHAT!" which Jaune was inclined to agree with.

That was such a stupid way to decide partners! What happened if a racist locked eyes with a Faunus? How about two fighters where their styles clash together so much it was impossible to work together!

"Mr Ryan?"

What about two people that had worked together for ages before this. If they didn't lock eyes first then they would be broken up. A perfectly good pair of partners ruined for no good reason!

"Mr Ryan."

So that meant he needed to try and seek out someone he knew before he locked eyes with anyone else. Maybe Ruby? His defence and her speed would be a good combination. Or perhaps Pyrrha? After all they both used a sword and shield combo for their weapon, he could see them working together easily, blocking strikes meant for each other and then swinging their swords at the opportunity given to them. He just hoped that the person he didn't see was that cold, stuck up Ice bit…

"MR RYAN!"

Jaune was snapped out of his musings at the yelling of his name. He looked up to see not an angry Ozpin but a rather angry Goodwitch, arms crossed under her bosom with her fingers drumming on her left elbow.

"Did you hear a word of what I said?"

"…"

"Your sheepish expression says no. I said your task is to find the ruins inside Emerald Forest, these ruins will be in the northern parts of the cliffs. At these ruins you will find some relics. You need to collect one of these relics and bring it back to the cliff side, killing any Grim that try to stop your progress along the way. You will be launched into the forest to simulate a drop off from a bullhead and you will be expected to come up with your own landing strategy. Did you listen this time Mr Ryan?"

Jaune gave a nod of confirmation and went over the task inside his head. It sounded easy enough. A simple dash and grab job in a forest filled with grim, find your partner by looking into their eyes and try not to die.

" _I suppose that I should get ready to be…."_

"Launched?"

He looked back to the pair of professors to see Ozpin pointing to the side of him with his cane. Jaune's head turned to follow and was greeted by the lack of all his other class mates apart from Ruby. Ruby gave a small smile, a wave and then braced herself on her platform. After a couple of seconds Ruby flew high into the air, becoming a red streak as she sailed towards the forest, Jaune looked down at the launch pad that was slowly locking back into place before looking at his feet when he heard the subtle click of the pad below him. He looked back at the professors faces, started to speak.

"Oh you motherfuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…"

Before he too was launched into the air.

* * *

So this was what it felt like to get launched by a cyclone trap.

The basic premise of the launch pad and the trap was the same. Launch whatever steps on it up into the air, then let gravity do the rest. The difference between the two was that the launch pad was not meant to be lethal. The other students that were flung had a landing strategy in mind. Some used the recoil of their weapons to slow and aim their descent, others used their semblances to maneuverer while some simply were able to tank the landing, their aura strong enough to let them crater no problem. Jaune didn't have any of that so it was understandable that he was freaking out while he flew like a sack of bricks.

" _Ok Jaune keep it together. You're only falling to your death over a forest, nothing major! You can think your way out of this. Perhaps you could land on a cyclone trap! No I'd be launched back upwards, back to square 1. Maybe I could grab a branch before hitting the ground? And then have the force rip my arm out of its socket and still send me to the ground. Oh what if…. Oh no I'm gonna die here before I even made a start as a proper huntsman! Nothing can save me… Is that a spear?"_

Jaune's frantic panic was halted as he saw what looked like a spear fly straight for him. Before Jaune was able to move out of the way the spear pierced through his jumper, not catching any skin but rather the loose area over his shoulder. The spear was uncaring that it had picked up a tag along and continued its trajectory without loss of speed, dragging Jaune along for the ride. The spear dove into the sea of green leaves without problems, carrying it's passenger with it all the way until it impacted against what must have been the biggest looking oak Jaune had ever seen. The impact knocked the breath out of Jaune's lungs and left him desperately catching his breath as he hung comically form the embedded weapon. Jaune swore he heard over the wind a cry of "I'm sorry!" which he very weakly responded with a "don't worry…" he was sure they didn't hear.

Jaune spent a couple of minutes dangling to calm himself down and catch his breath. Once he was ready he reached up with his arms and grabbed at the spear. Pushing his feet against the tree for leverage he pulled with all him might to pull the spear form the bark. After a couple of seconds he was successful as the spear was dislodged with a small crack form the wood. Unfortunately Jaune had forgotten that the spear was the only thing keeping him form face planting the ground and so he started to fall once again. This time however Jaune was ready, and so was able to angle his fall to land on one of the tree's branches. For there he jumped from branch to branch without slowing down until he landed on the forest floor with a combat roll, brandishing the spear as he stood up to look into the forest. The clearing he was in was covered by bushes around the giant tree, its span of branches causing very little plant life to grow around its base. When it was shown to be clear Jaune relaxed his stance and gave his live saving spear a once over.

It was clear that the weapon was of quality make, its edges sharp and well maintained with the grip of the shaft being very comfy. He spied a button just above the grip but decided against pressing it from fear of breaking the weapon. As Jaune examined the spearhead's point its colour scheme struck him as awfully familiar, where had he seen this mix of gold and red before?

Jaune's attention was broken however by a rustling coming from his left. Jaune looked over to the shaking bushes for a moment before a smile dawned on his face. " _Well the spear's owner made good time getting here."_ Thought Jaune as he raised his hand in greeting.

"Hey there! It looks like we're gonna be partners! Is this spear yours?"

The beowolf that exited the undergrowth was not interested in becoming partners, nor was it the owner of the lifesaving pointy stick. It just looked at the waving human in equal amounts of confusion and hatred. Jaune's smile stayed on his face even when his waving hand was brought down. He stabbed the spear into the ground point first before having his hand reach slowly towards his sheathed sword. As his hands found purchase on the hilt the beowolf dashed forwards on all fours and leapt into the air, claws extended to slice him into ribbon size pieces. Jaune quickly drew his sword, placed both hands on its hilt and gave a mighty swing of the blade. A white streak followed the sharpened metal as the blade continued cleaving the air until it collided with the floor. The beowolf continued flying as Jaune ducked below it, eventually crashing onto the floor in a furry black heap with the top half of its jaw bouncing next to it a couple of seconds later.

Jaune stood back up and turned to look at his handiwork, a dissolving black mess of fur and smoke and smiled to himself. First kill of the day and not a scratch, not bad. However as he watched the last black wisps of smoke rise into the air and disappear he had the feeling that he was still being watched. Deciding to test his luck he called out the forces spying on him.

"I know you're out there, hiding is pointless so you might as well stop wasting everyone's time and come try to kill me. Man to monster."

After about 15 seconds Jaune started to feel foolish, his paranoia had made him look like an idiot, calling out make believe baddies. That was until the rustling of bushes to his right caught his gaze. Jaune turned to look at the shaking foliage and kept a cool glare as 11 shadowy figures emerged from the green. 10 looked the same as the deceased beowolf, 2 of which boasted a bigger size than their pack mates. It was the 11th that grabbed Jaune's eye.

The beowolf at the back was bigger than any of the others, the beowolf standing tall as an impressive 8ft beast. Its chest unlike its counterparts was covered in sturdy white bone plating resembling ribs. The spikes littering its back and arms seemed much more sharp and dangerous. The main thing however was its eyes. The glowing yellow pinpricks that stared at Jaune were not those of a mindless animal, they were eyes filled with intelligence. These were the eyes of an Alpha.

" _A pack of 11 beowolfs, 8 regular, 2 big ones and an alpha leading them. Well if I wanted more proof this wasn't my morning I don't need anything else."_

Jaune rolled his shoulders to loosen himself up for the fight ahead. His right hand reached down and grabbed the sheathe at his side. With a simple but sharp flick Crocea Mors's shield expanded into existence as Jaune secured it to his arm. As Jaune settled into a comfortable stance he looked out to the pack of now growling wolfs in front of him, smiled and said

"What are you waiting for? Get over here so I can make fur coats out of your hides!"

The pack growled and barked at the comment, spittle flying from their maws in their rage. The Alpha who had not joined in the chorus of his brothers narrowed his eyes at the cocky meat sack in front of them before it called out with a roar of its own. That was enough motivation for the 8 smaller wolfs to charge at the blond. Jaune smiled behind his shield and braced himself.

Initiation starts now.

* * *

" _Come on now Reny! It's time we discovered where these relics are! We'll be just like Minstralana Jones!"_

" _I'm not sure it will be that exciting a trip Nora. We are trying to avoid danger after all. Now they said that the ruins will be in the northern parts of the forest so I suggest that…"_

" _REN! LOOK! It's an Ursa! I'm gonna name it Mr CuddleBuns!"_

" _Nora, don't name the grim."_

" _Hey Ren. Do you think it'll let me ride it?"_

" _No Nora it won't let you ride it. Now come on, we need to start making our way… Nora? NORA NO!"_

Miss Goodwitch looked away from the camera feed on her scroll with a sympathetic look on her face. "I do feel slightly sorry for Mr Lie. Mrs Valkyrie has already shown herself to be rather…. Boisterous at the best of times. I would hate to be her partner if I was such a quiet individual like Mr Lie."

"Yes but it is clear that those two have been friends for a very long time. The way Mr Lie is able to handle himself around Mrs Valkyrie's energy speaks of this. I don't think we will have any problems with that pair, besides costs for damages." Spoke Ozpin as he was engrossed with watching another pair on his own scroll, the pair in question being Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee. It was very clear that the pair was not getting along due to Ruby trailing along behind an angry faced Weiss, her weapon trailing behind her having just cleaved a tree in half.

"Well then that leaves just 2 students not paired up yet. Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Ryan." Said Miss Goodwitch as she changed her camera looking for the 2. She found Pyrrha easy enough, trekking the green expanse notably with just her shield. She would have worried for her safety if she didn't then see Pyrrha smack a beowolf in the face with her shield before bringing the edge of the shield down into the wolf's chest, causing a large chasm of a wound that killed the beowolf outright.

Looking away from her scroll she turned her attention to the headmaster. "I still don't know why you're so interested in the boy. His documents state that he has average skills across the board, he has shown nothing remarkable about him since he got here. What is it about him that has you so interested?"

Ozpin let out a small sigh at the mention of the blonde mystery student. Of all the students he had this year he was the only one he struggled to figure out. He switched the camera feed on his scroll to observe the knight in question. He came across the scene of Jaune crouched with his blade drawn, the smoking corpse of a beowolf disappearing behind him.

"I'll be honest with you Glynda, I am not entirely sure of it myself. There is something about him that just doesn't add up. Too many questions surround the boy with the only answers to them being impossible. Although I will say this. I have a hunch that the documents he gave us are forged."

"If you suspected that they were forged then why did you allow him to attend Beacon in the first place?!"

Ozpin didn't answer right away, instead he continued to look down at the scroll in his hands. The scene that greeted him was Jaune posed for battle. His sword and shield both in hand as he stared down a pack of 11 beowolfs growling and snarling at him.

"Because I sensed in him potential, when I looked at that photo on the transcripts there was something that stood out to me in that still image's eyes. Besides…" Ozpin started to finish as he looked back at Glynda, seeing the beowolfs charge forward towards the blonde knight on her own scroll.

"We're about to see if my gut feeling held merit right now, aren't we?"

* * *

The beowolfs charged Jaune at a vicious pace, their giant blacks paws tearing the ground asunder with every step. The beowolf that reached him first leapt straight at him, its front claws outstretched to rip and tear until nothing was left. Instead of feeling the squishy flesh it desired the claws had instead struck the shield, earning themselves the sound of scraping metal. The wolf paused for a second, not expecting the human to react as quickly as he had. Its reward for its hesitance was its arms being chopped off by the elbows, courtesy of the steel blade wielded by the blonde. The wolf howled in agony at the injury, stepping backwards in shock which left it open to twin slashes across its chest, killing the beast.

The next 2 had decided to attack from the sides, forcing Jaune to split his attention. Both beasts swung at him with their sharp claws forcing him to block from both sides. His left side was easy, the wide shield making the task a breeze. The right hand side was the problem, the thin sword being much harder to block the clawed hand of the beowolf. Thankfully Jaune was able to stop the blow just short of his face. After both strikes landed on their target they readied a follow up strike. Jaune used this breather to brace his legs and use his shield to barge into the beowolf on his left. Because the beowolf was not expecting the powerful charge it hadn't braced itself. This meant the beowolf was thrown onto its back, allowing Jaune to dodge out of the way of the slash to his right. As Jaune finished his charge he raised his leg over the beowolf lying on the floor and brought his foot down onto the beowolf's knee, breaking the white bone in two and causing the limb to bend at a weird angle.

The wolf's following cry was ignored in favour of dealing with the threat behind him, the leaping black mound of flesh shot forwards towards Jaune with its mouth wide open. Jaune responded by smashing his shield directly into its face. Crumbling the snout of the beowolf, sending teeth flying from their black gums and stopping the beast dead in the air. The wolf grabbed its face with a distorted cry of pain, sounding like a sort of demonic moo. Jaune used this distraction to lift his free hand and place it onto the wolf's chest. A second later a shockwave of force blasted out of the palm, causing the injured grim to fly back into the overgrowth hurtling like a ragdoll.

The last 3 had decided to attack as a single unit, all charging together to rush down the knight that had hurt their brothers. Jaune barely had enough time to finish off the downed beowolf from earlier with a slash to the throat before the group was upon him. A slash of claws from the right was blocked by his shield but Jaune had to give ground lest he be struck from the left. 2 of the beasts slashed from either side forcing Jaune to squeeze between the attacks, using the shield as a buffer to hide behind. Jaune then quickly hopped into the air to avoid the low sweep employed by the third. However his luck ran out as he landed when one of the beowolfs arms swung into his unprotected gut, sending him tumbling away from the force.

Jaune used the momentum of his roll backwards to create distance so he could have some breathing room. At the end of his tumble he rolled himself back up, shield at the ready. What he wasn't ready for were all 3 beowolfs suspended in the air above him ready to pounce on the surprised human. Jaune barely had enough time to raise his shield above his head before the combined force of the beowolfs crashed onto the shield, cracking the ground beneath Jaune's feet from the force and creating a loud boom that echoed through the forest.

Jaune grit his teeth in focus as he concentrated on not being smashed into a pancake. Due to the surprise and the awkward footing he was forced to adopt Jaune was struggling to push back the 3 beowolfs forcing his shield down. As Jaune dropped to one his knees to better support the weight his eyes locked onto one of the beowolfs feet not that far from him. If he could only strike it with his sword he would be able to escape. Unfortunately he couldn't use it due to the weird angle the swing would require.

But that was fine. He had other options.

Jaune let the sword drop from his grip and using his now free hand drew from his side holster Peacekeeper. He lined up the shot as best he could before firing off 3 quick rounds at the black paw. The first 2 shots were misses, the first going wide and the second impacting the ground just short. The third shot hit its mark, the round piercing black flesh and white bone as it burrowed its way into the foot. The beowolf quickly realised something was wrong and immediately released a pained whine as it left its brothers to tend to its ruined foot. This was just what Jaune needed as the lesser force combined with the surprise of the other 2 beowolfs allowed Jaune to overpower his foes and shove them off his shield. This sent the two stumbling back which gave Jaune the perfect opportunity.

Jaune turned to the first of his foes and unloaded six shots of Peacekeeper directly in the wolf's chest. The wolf shook with every impact as the bullets all pierced into the soft black flesh, causing little black geysers of blood (at least what counted for blood with grim) to spout from the wounds. After the final shot the mass of black muscle fell, smoking on its fall to the ground. Jaune then faced the other beowolf who had just recovered from the stumble.

The beast roared at the blonde before running straight at him, intent of ripping the head from his shoulders. Jaune's uncovered shield hand clenched into a fist, its skin colour turning a light blue as cold mist formed around the palm. As the charging grim nearly reached its target the fist suddenly sprouted spikes, jutting out all over it. Jaune raised this closed hand and aimed before opening the palm at the wolf. What happened seemed to be instantaneous, the wolf lost its black colouring as a coating of ice covered the entire creature. Where the beast had stood was now a beautiful ice statue frozen in the act of a pounce. Jaune rolled the arm that had cast the ice to loosen in up before winding back the shield and smashing it against the ice, the statue didn't stand a chance as it shattered into a million flakes of snow, small black wisps of smoke escaping the pile of ice shavings on the floor.

With that problem put on ice Jaune focused his attention onto the Beowolf with the shot foot. Said beowolf had just finished getting in control of the pain the foot brought and was now ready to return the favour. Jaune let the wolf come to him, the wolf not moving as fast due to the limp from its injured paw. As the wolf reached him and prepared to strike Jaune lifted his foot and slammed it down onto the shot paw. This caused the beowolf to yowl an agonizing scream, opening its maw wide to get it all out. Jaune took advantage of his by shoving the barrel of Peacekeeper into the open mouth. The wide eyed beowolf had no time to react before its head sported a new hole in the back of its throat. Jaune pulled out the gun and quickly wiped it onto the beowolf's chest in an attempt to clean it of the black gunk covering the barrel, knocking the now lifeless standing corpse to the floor.

With gun in hand he turned to the last of the lesser beowolfs. Said grim started to loudly growl, he clawed the ground leaving large gashes of earth in its wake. The roars of intimidation travelled far and wide as it bellowed at the top of its lungs, its message was clear. He was the Grim that you didn't mess with, HE was the top dog in this exchange AND THAT NO HUMAN WAS GOING TO TAKE HIM DOWN! SO THAT HUMAN BETTER RUN AWAY! BEFORE HE JOINS THE COUNTLESS HUMANS THAT HAD FALLEN BEFORE HIM THINKING THAT THEY COULD BE HEROES!

 **BANG!**

Too bad the human didn't understand Grim…

As Jaune holstered his gun, the barrel still smoking from the perfect headshot he gave the grim he reached down and picked up his sword before facing the big bad alpha. The alpha during all of this had simply been observing the boy, learning how he fought. With a huff of air to its cohorts the 2 bigger beowolfs stepped up the plate of trying to take the hunter down. As its number 2's started their attack the alpha once again took to studying the blonde haired huntsman, compiling a mental list of his habits while fighting, the abilities he possessed and so on. When the time that his number 2's had bought him was up, the grim gave a small smirk to himself.

Time to put the whelp in the ground.

* * *

Jaune gave a sigh as the second beowolf dispersed into smoke. They had been a fun pair to fight, their size gave them the strength needed to keep him at bay but they still maintained the speed of their lesser counterparts. Add in the fact they worked together like partners and you get a decent challenge. But all Jaune needed was a single mistake to exploit in order to throw them off, and in came when the right kept his arm extended just a bit too long. With a swing of steel the limb was chopped off causing the right twin to roar in agony. At this the right lost what little reasoning it had and devolved into a natural state of rage. This lead to its demise as calls from its partner to listen were ignored in favour of having its head chopped off to match its arm. After the loss of righty the left wolf did not last long. Time of relying on its brother to watch it's back meant it didn't see the sword point careening towards its chest until it stuck out of its back.

"Ok 10 down, 1 big bad wolf to go. I have to say, letting all your subordinates throw themselves against the brick wall just so you could have a better chance is not the best strategy in the world. But then again I shouldn't expect that much strategy from a big oversized… where'd you go?"

Jaune looked around the clearing to try and spot the 8ft murder machine, he saw the remains of frosty the snow grim, the mystery spear still stuck in the ground point first, he even spotted the imprint in the foliage of the grim he sent rag dolling away with sonic boom. But no sign of the boss grim.

" _Ok it looks like he's disappeared. Now that things no Houdini so it must be hiding in the overgrowth, which means one of 2 things. Option A would be that it used the chance to run away, looking to build up another pack so it can fight another day. Because grim don't retreat that just leaves option B..."_

 ***SLASH***

"ARG!"

" _A surprise attack."_

Jaune continued to roll along the ground before collapsing into a heap. Jaune stood up slowly, his shield hand cupping his left cheek as he stood. The claws hadn't broken his aura, the life-force too strong to pierce with the single attack but the strike still did a lot of damage. Jaune uncovered his face to look at the alpha in front of him, watching as the wolf pulled off strands of cream wool from its long claws. At the sight of cream on its claws Jaune looked below at his chest. On his shoulder where his armour didn't quite cover the claws had ripped a large gash out of the jumper. this left the skin underneath visible to the world. Fury rose from deep within him as his glare reached the beowolf.

"This sack of fur dared to touch my Jumper?! Well it just made this personal."

Jaune rushed toward the beowolf, shield raised and sword armed at the ready to cut the beast down. The alpha however was ready, and leapt to the side to dodge the telegraphed charge. As Jaune turned to slash its chest he found himself hastily blocking with his shield the lighting fast scratch the beowolf gave him. Jaune again tried to score a hit only to be deflected by the long claws the wolf possessed, which left him scrambling to block the wolf's follow up attack. Jaune didn't even get a chance at a third attack as the wolf kicked him in the gut, moving too fast for his shield to block. Jaune was once again sent tumbling backwards but he quickly recovered his footing to stand at the ready. Jaune expected to the beast to rush in and strike but found it staying back, ready for his next attack.

Jaune allowed a deep breath to enter his lungs as he tried to calm himself down. He had let his anger get the better of him and it had cost him, so it was time to try again with a calmer head. Jaune raised his shield and sword at the ready but made no motion of moving to the grim in front of him. He instead closed his shield hand into a fist and motioned with the hand holding the sword in a 'come over here' gesture, using the middle finger to draw him in. The beowolf saw the challenge and gave the best impression of a smirk it could with a snout, before lowering to all 4's and dashing at the knight. Despite its intimidating charge the Boy still held his ground, which earned a little bit of respect to the beowolf. Not many of its victims stood their ground to his assault.

If only it paid more attention during this charge. Then it would have seen the white winds swirling around the knight's closed fist.

Jaune had got the beowolf to charge at him so he could buy himself a little more time. About halfway into the wolfs run Jaune felt the energy in his hand reach a peak. The wolf only saw a smirk appear on the knight's face before he rocketed forward like he had been shot out of a cannon. The wolf tried its best to dodge out of the way, opting to leap over the battering ram of a huntsman heading its direction. Unfortunately its reflexes were just a tad slow, so the hunter powered freight train connected the beowolf was sent him high into the air from the impact.

Jaune's momentum wasn't completely lost as he ploughed through the black road block so to help kill the rest Jaune plunged his sword into the ground, shoved his heels into the dirt and kept a firm grip on the handle. The sudden anchor caused Jaune to start spinning around the sword as he quickly lost speed. When he felt he was close to stopping he released his hand and skidded to a stop facing the direction he charged from. Reaching around his back he drew his shotgun using his now sword less hand. Jaune aimed it in front of his just as the disoriented alpha fell to the earth. The confused grim only had a second to realize what was going on before Jaune filled him in.

 ***BANG***

With lead.

Jaune's discharge of 00 buckshot into the wolf's chest sent the body crashing to the floor a few steps away. Jaune calmly walked up to the body with his shotgun still pointed to the black heap. The blast had done quite the number on the alpha, the large gaping wound biting a chunk out of the black creature's chest. The alpha looked up with wide eyed fear as its body tried to twitch away from death's harbinger with little success. Without a word Jaune took aim once again before another round was unloaded directly at the wolf's head. Said cranium exploded as the shotgun round tore into the flesh, spraying bits of blood and bone fragments high into the air. A small slab of black meat slapped onto Jaune's face, which he removed with a nonchalant swipe of his hand.

Jaune breathed a quick sigh as he watched the alpha evaporate into black smoke. He stored the shotgun once again onto his back and made his way back to his sword. While he pulled the sword out of the ground he changed the shield back into its sheathe form and placed it back on his leg. As he slotted Crocea Mors back together he started to think over how the fight went.

" _Well it could of gone better but overall not bad for my first battle as a student. The 3 that got the jump on me caused some issues at first but I dealt that then rather well. I should have handled that alpha much better however. I let it get me angry and because of that I made stupid mistakes, although I think destroying its head the way I did was warranted due to the damage to my favourite jumper. Still it's over with now. 11 Beowolf's dead and I've seen the smoke from all of them to confirm it. Well apart from…"_

"The one I launched into the overgrowth…"

As if summoned by those words alone the final black shadow leaped out of the sea of green. Jaune turned to the sound of foliage parting to see the beowolf that he had caved in the muzzle of flying through the air right at him. The distorted battle cry sounding out around the open field would have made him laugh if it didn't mean he was going to be mauled by those claws. Not having the time to draw any of his weapons Jaune raised his arms in an X formation, ready to block the beast as best he could. Jaune braced himself knowing this was going to hurt.

Or maybe it wouldn't.

Spinning from the wall of leaves something else careened over in Jaune's direction. Flying higher that Jaune meant it missed his head and instead collided with the beowolf's neck. The force it had been thrown with meant that it continued its flight while dragging the wolf with it. The object which turned out to be a round bronze shield embedded itself into the same oak the spear had before, with the neck of the beowolf caught between the wood and metal. The beowolf stayed suspended off the ground stuck to the tree for a few seconds before the body started to slide down the wood, leaving the head held up by the shield like a makeshift shelve.

A sudden shake of the shield found it quickly dislodging itself out the tree, the smoking head falling to reunite with its body. The shield flew backwards through the air before being caught by a gloved hand. Jaune followed the flying discus to see Pyrrha standing there holding her shield above her head.

"Hi there Jaune! Are you okay?"

Jaune looked at the Spartan as she made her way over before turning his attention to the spear still stuck point first in the ground.

" _So that's where I saw that colour scheme from."_

Jaune walked over to the spear and with a quick tug pulled it out of the ground, he turned around to find that Pyrrha had closed the gap and was standing a couple of steps behind him. Jaune extended his hand holding the spear which Pyrrha took straight away.

"I guessing this belongs to you? What with the matching shield and armour and everything else."

"It is, thank you for keeping an eye on it for me."

"Not a problem, I tend to keep things that save my life close to me anyway. That means you threw it to pin me to the tree didn't you."

"Sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure I had you for my partner so I needed a way to secure my place."

"No I'm glad you did. I wasn't ready to suddenly find myself flying through the air so I didn't have a landing strategy set up."

Pyrrha gave him a small smile as she pressed the small button on the spear. The spear before his eyes transformed into the short xiphos sword he had seen in the locker room. Storing it along with her shield onto her back she started walking away from the clearing before calling back towards Jaune.

"well then partner, shall we get going?"

The question caught Jaune unaware for a moment, stopping him in his tracks before he had even started to move. Now that he thought about it she was his partner, which was a weird feeling for Jaune

Jaune didn't have much luck in the partner department. The 1 he had before wasn't great. They had never been around with them in a firefight or to help with the heavy lifting. The only time he had seen them in person had been when he was trapped in a room with a glass window, helpless to watch as they were ambushed below. Then there was the whole using him as a pawn bit and the "you never even knew who I truly was" moment. Apart from him he never really had someone watching his back.

Still… if what Weiss had said about Pyrrha being a fighting tournament champion was true…

"Sure. Lead on partner."

He could have done a lot worse than Pyrrha Nikos.

* * *

 **So the start of the initiation has begun and it looks like all the guys have got their partners. And I'm really happy that I got to start writing real fight scenes this chapter. we'll see more of everyone else as well as finish off initiation** **next time.**

 ** **And I'll try to bring it out quicker than this own.****

 **See you guy's next time!**


	4. Spelunking gone wrong

**So... It's been quite a while since I last updated hasn't it.**

 **I'm not going to try and justify why it's been such a long time since the story has been updated. Just a lack of time and a terribly slow writing speed.**

 **But to make it up to you guys I have got the next chapter almost ready for you.**

 **expect it to be out in a couple of weeks. Plus a little surprise at the end of this chapter**

 **anyway enough stalling on with the chapter.**

* * *

"For being a supposedly Grim-filled forest there seemed to be a lack of face clawing murder wolfs at the moment." Jaune thought to himself as he walked through the forest.

After being "assisted" by his new found partner, (Jaune was reluctant to admit that he had been saved as soon as she had found him. What kind of wimp would that portray him as?) They had spent the next half an hour or so walking through the forest. The walk had been surprisingly peaceful considering their setting, being left alone for the majority of the walk.

Apart from a slow lumbering ursa they had accidently snuck up behind.

The ursa in question had been plodding along the forest minding its own business. The bear lookalike creature similar to its wolf counterpart had the same kind of bone plating covering its legs, arms and body. However it was clear that while a beowolf was meant for speed, the ursa was built for power. Thick tree trunk sized limbs thumped the ground with every step, shaking the mass of black shaggy fur covering the appendages. Its back was covered with sharp white spikes that matched its smaller but just as deadly claws. To top it all off its face bared a rounded mask with the same red lines detailed over it like its lupus cousins, accenting its yellow eyes.

When the beast had come into sight Jaune halted his walk for a moment before drawing his sword. Pyrrha on the other hand continued walking, even as the ursa noticed the second set of footsteps behind in. Turning around and standing on its two hind legs it gave an impressive roar of intimidation before bringing its two beefy arms up to smash the red haired spartan.

It never got the chance to try.

As the arms raised Pyrrha drew her sword from her back with such a fast motion it may as well of teleported to her hand. With a quick and precise downward kick Pyrrha's foot snapped one of the ursa's knees, causing the ursa to quickly kneel with a pained roar. With the hulking frame now kneeling the spartan stabbed her sword straight into the bear's gut, before slicing sideways and bringing her black stained blade out the side of the beast. This caused a cascade of black sludge to pour out of the wound which made the ursa curl inwards upon itself, leaving its head exposed to the redhead as it tried to keep the spartan in its eyesight. Pyrrha quickly took advantage of this as she brought her sword back around, positioned the blade underneath the head and stabbed upwards. The bronze blade had no trouble piecing the bear's head as its point easily broke the rounded bone mask from underneath. The ursa's jaw fell open from lack of muscle control as the now dead grim stared vacantly forward with dull yellow eyes.

Jaune stared at the now smoking corpse of the ursa whose head was currently impaled on the xiphos Pyrrha wielded. Unsheathing the sword from the skull, Pyrrha quickly swiped her blade through the air in an attempt to clean the metal of its filth. The ursa corpse now without something propping it up fell to the floor with a crash, temporarily staining the ground black with its life force before it dissolved into the air along with the body, leaving no trace of the bear's existence.

Jaune stared at the spot the grim had been with a surprised expression which quickly turned into an impressed smirk as he sheathed his sword. She had been quick, efficient and had wasted little energy in slaying the beast.

Jaune couldn't have done better himself.

After the bear had been put down they continued their trek through the forest, making small talk as they went… with varying levels of success.

You see they started their conversation strong by continuing their plot to crumble the Pumpkin Pete brand of cereal. That kept them going for a few minutes before their talk transitioned to weapons. It came as a surprise to Jaune that Pyrrha's sword transformed into a semi-automatic rifle as well as its spear form. When it came to Jaune's weapons however…

"Wait… what do you mean you saw me fight already?"

Pyrrha's expression morphed into a slightly sheepish expression, giving an awkward smile as she answered.

"Well I didn't really arrive when that beowolf with the smashed snout jumped you. I saw that you were fighting beforehand and decided to kinda… hang back. Not because I didn't want to help you! But rather I wanted to see what you could do. After all if we were going to be partners I wanted to get a feel of how you fight before we fought together. I'm sorry?"

Jaune raised both his hands in a placating way, trying to wave off her concerns that she had done something wrong. "No! Don't be sorry! I don't hold a grudge about you hanging back. After all you intervened when I needed it so it's fine! But… Just out of curiosity, how much did you see?"

"Well I got there just as you blocked the first beowolf that charged you with your shield."

"So basically everything?"

"Pretty much yeah."

Jaune considered this answer as they continued their journey through the forest. If what she said was true and she had seen the entire fight that meant she had seen him use Winter Blast, Sonic Boom and Charge! This left Jaune with a problem.

Jaune knew that his plasmids where going to be an issue to try and explain. He was somewhat lucky that most people that had their auras unlocked had extra abilities in the form of semblances. With luck and some good persuasive explaining some of his plasmids as his semblance would be easy. Most people only having one super power as a semblance would cause an issue however.

Sure he could just go all out, give a middle finger to common sense and just zap, burn, freeze and blast everything in his way. But trying to convince people that his semblance was some 'controlling the elements' bullshit which allowed him to do all that would be impossible. I mean come on it sounded like powers from a fairytale or something. That was why he had planned to only use them when no one else was around or in life and death situations.

Well that plan was out of the question now.

With the cat halfway out of the bag Jaune decided to try and run damage control on the situation. Before the feline finished clawing out completely.

"So I guess you have some questions about how I was able to do a couple of things back there. Well to tell the truth…"

"No not really."

Jaune's explanation died in his throat as Pyrrha nonchalantly shot down the worries he had swirling in his head. At the behest of the surprised look on Jaune's face Pyrrha decided to explain herself.

"Jaune as much as I don't like to toot my own horn I am a four time Mistral fighting tournament champion. Because of his I've seen so many different fighting styles I haven't been surprised by how someone fight's for over a year. Although I will admit I haven't seen someone who has as much power in their Aura Striking as you do."

"Aura Striking?"

"When you infuse an action you make with aura, granting you a huge boost to the strength and speed of said action. You sent the beowolf flying so far with just a one-inch palm strike there couldn't be any other way to do it. And the way you froze that other beowolf so quickly with your usage of dust was amazing! You must have so much control over your aura to freeze it as effectively as you did! Then again the way you had to stop yourself moving after charging that alpha might say otherwise."

Jaune stared at his partner for a few moments before a sheepish smile spread across his mouth, he closed his eyes before giving a somewhat nervous laugh, one of his hands raising up to rub the back of his head in the classic 'oops' motion

"Yeah I guess I still need to practice better control over my aura! I mean it's kinda 90/10 when I try to use it. Most of the time I get it right but on those rare occasions I just mess up in getting the right level of power or control needed to do it." Jaune finished his lame answer with another nervous chuckle which was copied less nervously by Pyrrha. Once Jaune's chuckle ran its course he straightened his face into a calm smile, hiding the true nature of his thoughts.

" _Holy shit did I just get away with that!? I mean not only did I avoid having to answer some awkward questions but I wasn't the one to come up with the bullshit excuse in the first place! Now I have an answer if I mess up again and it's all thanks to my lovely new partner! I don't know what Samantha meant when she spoke about me having as much bad luck as a broken mirror factory cause I just snagged myself the best partner around!... or maybe I was snagged by the best partner is a better way to say it."_

"I guess that's why we're at Beacon in the first place right? To learn how to improve our control over our powers and become better protectors."

Jaune nodded at Pyrrha's statement, before a stray question rose up within his mind.

"Actually, about that… Why did you decide to come to Beacon instead of the academy in Mistral? If Weiss was telling the truth about how famous you are I would have thought you would have studied at Haven, where you would have been closer to home."

At this Pyrrha's smile crumpled as a small frown formed on her face. Jaune saw the change of tone on the woman's face and winced a little.

"Sore subject?"

"No it's just… Your right. If I went to Haven I would have been much closer to home. Where my mother and father could more easily set up endorsement deals for me. If I went to Haven I'm sure I could have received special one to one training set up by the biased school council, shortcutting me to greater heights all to get in my favour. And I'm sure that I would have found a lovely team there as well, one that would treat me _exactly the same_ as anyone else!"

"I get the feeling that last one was a lie…"

"I don't know if you realise it Jaune but I hate my fame! No one sees me as anything but my reputation or my sponsors! They never see the real me! The girl that just wants to be treated like a normal human being, instead of this godlike figure that decided to grace the mortals of the world with her presence!"

"Please tell me that last one was exaggerated?"

"I wish, there's plenty of good reasons I don't go on any extranet forums about myself." Replied Pyrrha, pinching her nose with a frustrated expression. "Vale was supposed to be a fresh start for me, a place that didn't care about who I was. That lasted about thirty minutes before it went back to the way it was in Mistral. Looks like I'll need to go shopping for incognito clothes again..."

Jaune considered what it would be like to be famous on the same level as Pyrrha, before quickly shaking the nightmarish thought away. To be so famous that you needed to hide from the public for as simple a task as a shopping trip would be horrible. Especially if noisy fans decided to try and find out what you were like in the past.

Would be a little difficult to explain a lack of an _existence_ after all.

Pyrrha's smile returned as she turned to face her new partner. "But that's why I'm glad I met you Jaune. When we first met you didn't care about who I was or what I had done. You treated me like you should of, like the random girl that was blocking the way to your locker I was. Because of that we were able to have a proper conversation without my fame getting in the way!"

"Didn't that conversation entail how we were going to bring down the megalomaniac grip Pumpkin Pete's has on the cereal market using your position as their mascot just so they would lower the sugar level in their cereal to stop my sisters from getting toothache?"

"Well… you have to be happy for small miracles too. So what about you? Why did you decide to become a huntsman? "

Jaune's face decided it was its turn to form a frown at Pyrrha's innocent question, causing Pyrrha to panic slightly at the change.

"Sorry! Was that a bad question?"

"NO! No no. It's just…" Jaune trailed off as he tried stalling for time. The problem wasn't that he was reluctant to answer, but he had to figure out a suitable answer to give. The truth was out of the question at the moment, he liked Pyrrha sure but he didn't/couldn't trust her yet.

So it looked like a heavily altered story filled with lies and sprinkled with truth would have to suffice.

"When I was young I didn't have the easiest time growing up, I didn't know who my parents were and for the longest time I grew up on the streets. Out there as a child you learned how to survive quickly or you didn't last long, you learned when to fight for your next meal or when to hide if someone bigger came your way. Honestly if I stayed living that way I probably wouldn't be here right now, but that changed when I found Mama Tenenbaum."

"Mama Tenenbaum?"

"Well I guess the right way to say it would be she found me. She saw me one day as I was trying to find some food scraps from a restaurant. Instead of looking away in disgust or reporting me she took me in to have a proper meal. I didn't trust her at first; I remember flinching if she got too close or if she made any sudden movements. Now though? I can say she is the mother I never had."

"She sounds amazing…" muttered Pyrrha with a slight tone of longing in her voice. A tone that Jaune failed to notice as he continued his story.

"She is. She told me that she had made some mistakes in the past, mistakes that hurt a lot of people and caused a lot of suffering. I guess taking me in was her way of trying to redeem herself. I know it's why she started adopting my sisters. I remember when Sasha first got adopted, I hated that I had to share my house with someone else; it made me feel like I was being replaced. But then she called me big brother, and something changed."

Jaune turned to look Pyrrha in the eyes as he spoke his next words. "I had a sister. Someone that looked up to me, and I really liked how that sounded. 'Big Brother Jaune!' It has a nice ring to it. It didn't take long before Mama Tenenbaum decided to adopt another, and then another. Pretty soon I had seven little sisters. "

"Seven!?"

"That's everyone's reaction but yeah. Seven little sisters all looking up to their big bro Jaune. And a title like that means responsibility. It meant being misses Nesbitt at their tea parties. It meant reading them bed time stories to help them sleep at night. Being a second pair of helping hands for Mama Tenenbaum when it came to cooking and cleaning around the house. But the biggest responsibility was being able to protect them, keep them out of harm's way."

"And I failed to do that."

At Pyrrha's confused look Jaune shut his eyes tight as he pretended to remember the nightmarish scene he had just made up. "We had been walking back home from the park on our own and I had decided to use an alleyway as a shortcut to get them home quicker. From around a corner this man appeared and started to threaten us, told us to give him any money we had or he'd hurt us. I remember telling him to fuck off and then I went to fight him off, not my greatest idea now that I think about it but I was the Big Brother! The Invincible Protector! I had to show them that they were safe!"

"I didn't stand a chance. He knocked me senseless; I didn't have my aura unlocked at the time so I felt the full force of all his blows. The last thing I remember was being thrown into a wall, hitting my head and blacking out. When I came to I was at home with Mama Tenenbaum fussing over a nasty cut on the back of my head. I later found out that my little sisters had hid from the man and carried my unconscious body all the way home after he had left."

Pyrrha quickly tried to cheer Jaune up to get rid of the self-loathing in his voice. "Jaune you can't blame yourself for what happened then. It's that monster of a man that's to blame. Did everyone turn out to be ok in the end?"

"Yes they did but let me ask you a question Pyrrha. The same question that I asked myself a day after I woke up. What if that had been a Grim?"

Pyrrha's face sunk in horror at the implications of the question. The man that had beaten up Jaune had obviously decided that knocking Jaune unconscious was as far as he needed to go. The reason why wasn't clear, maybe he didn't want the blood of a child on his hands. Maybe he thought he heard someone coming to check what was making noises down the alleyway. Regardless of the reason the man had stopped.

A Grim wouldn't.

The Grim's sole reason to be placed on the earth seemed to be the eradication of human and faunus life and all their creations. Any self-respecting Grim that saw an unconscious child in front of it with another seven cowering nearby wouldn't dream of passing that chance up. Sure it might not have gotten all of them but at the very least it would have killed Jaune, then it had the choice of a quick meal eating Jaune's corpse or chasing down the probably scattering sisters. Either way it meant Jaune wouldn't be here talking to her.

Jaune stood straight as he broke Pyrrha from her horrible musings, a sombre note in his tone has he started to forge onwards to the ruins. "That is why I came to beacon. That is why I trained so hard to get to where I am now and that is why I'm still nowhere near strong enough yet. I don't want something like that to happen ever again."

Pyrrha followed his lead as he paved the path forward into the brush. A small frown formed on her face as she did so, muttering to herself along the way. "That doesn't mean you have to do it alone Jaune. I'm your partner, and it's my job to make sure that you're protected as well."

* * *

The walk after that little chat had been awkward if you asked for Jaune's opinion. Both party members had remained silent after their stories had been shared. In all honesty the dark cave they stumbled across turned out to be a lovely distraction.

The black hole in the side of the wall they spotted had been slightly hidden out of sight, it was only because Jaune caught the entrance out the corner of his eye while they had been travelling that they stopped to investigate. The opening in the rock showed obvious age as plant life grew around an entrance made of loose rock holding it up. As the pair drew closer their started to make out drawings around the entrance, old cave drawings depicting stick figures fighting what appeared to be creatures of Grim with spears and bows and arrows. Both Pyrrha and Jaune peered into the cave to try and see what was inside but the naturally dark interior betrayed nothing of what dwelled within.

"Sooooo… do you think this is the place?" asked Jaune as he looked at the crude drawings that covered the walls.

Pyrrha contemplated her answer as she stared at the makeshift stone frame surrounding the hole, wincing as a small part of the stone framework fell down as she placed a hand on the stone. "I don't think that this is where the relics would be, it seems a little out of the way after all."

"You say that but I wouldn't put it past Ozpin to place the relics in a really not obvious location just to mess with the students. Let's be honest Pyrrha he looks like the type that would, attempting an air of mystery when all it does is just confuse everyone."

"I guess but if this is really where the relics are then where is everyone else? If they were inside the cave I would have thought we would be able to hear some of them making noises. That cave will echo any noises inside of it right out."

Jaune hummed in contemplation before he gave the surrounding area a quick glance over. As his eyes scanned the area he spotted a large branch lying under one of the trees. Jaune smiled to himself before he checked to see if Pyrrha was watching. When he was sure Pyrrha was too occupied trying to look into the inky darkness of the cave Jaune grasped the branch and snapped the fingers on his left hand. Instantly the dry wood burst into flames at the top of the branch, leaving a nicely burning makeshift torch in his hand.

"Well I think we should go check it out, if it turns out that we were wrong then no harm no fowl. But I don't what to chance it if it turns out this is the right place."

Pyrrha's face made it very clear that she didn't think the cave was the right location, but Jaune didn't want to let this go. "Pyrrha I just made a torch. The least that you can do is humour me."

With a sigh and a 'go on then' gesture both huntsman made their way into the cave.

* * *

The cave was dark. That's how it liked it

Dark was familiar. Dark was safe. It did its best work in the dark. Dark was home.

It had made this cave its home for longer than it cared to count. Back when it first crawled through the stone entrance it had been small, tiny, and too weak to kill a human fair and square. Not that it particularly cared about killing humans fairly, its powerful venom is still as potent as it was back when it had been small. A single prick on an unsuspecting target without their soul glow was all it needed to kill them. Of course now it didn't need its venom to kill its prey, its powerful pincers could snap a body in two with ease.

It turned its gaze over to a small corner of its favourite lounging spot, where it spotted the warped metal handle of an axe, still clutched by the bony hand of its former wielder. The weapon had been able to use red powder to light the head on fire. It had been a nasty fight, the flames casting its accursed light throughout its dark haven. That hadn't saved the hunter when it finally caught him. It couldn't remember what the human looked like but he had been very delicious.

That happened a long time ago of course. Since that day the only things that had entered its cave were other grim and the odd animal, which were dealt with by calming informing them this was its cave and that they could fuck off and eating them respectively. But for the most part it spent its time sleeping and waiting. Waiting in the dark where all was right with the world.

"I'm surprised that the drawings continue so far into the cave, I thought they would have stopped closer to the entrance!"

Hmm? What was that noise? It sounded familiar…

"Well ruins or not this cave must have been lived in by humans at some point. I'm going to guess that they don't anymore."

"I don't know Pyrrha, perhaps we'll find some sort of cave cult. A group that drinks goat's blood and calls in ambrosia. _It wouldn't be the first time_."

"What was that last part?"

"Don't worry about it."

Humans. They had once again breached the peace and tranquillity of its cave. It opened its eyes at the sound of their voices and could see a small glow coming from around the bend of the cave. It seemed that they had also brought in a fire to help cut a path through its lovely darkness. The set of eyes that gazed at the torchlight drew back further into the dark, their yellow glow disappearing into the murky black as it sat and waited for the humans to draw closer. It had been a long time since it had the chance to snuff the life out of its most hated enemy.

Time to see if it had lost its touch.

* * *

"The deeper we go, the less likely I feel this is the ruins."

At much as he would like to deny Pyrrha's statement Jaune was starting to feel the same way. The journey had started out reasonably well, the cave drawings that they spotted outside continued inwards. However the drawings started losing what quality they had the further in they travelled. After a while the drawings disappeared completely, leaving the cave barren of anything resembling ruins. Well that was unless you counted ruins as stalactites hanging from the ceiling with mushrooms growing at the base of the walls, which Jaune did not.

However he wasn't willing to acknowledge his terrible decision so he planned to see it through to the end

"Well we won't know for certain until we check it out, one last bend and if there's nothing there then we'll head back out."

The hum of confirmation from Pyrrha spurred Jaune on as he turned around the corner; torch held high as it showed the way forward for the knight in training. The torchlight revealed that the cave opened up into a wide ended chamber. The light given by the fire didn't fill the entire space, leaving the back end of the chamber encased in darkness. Jaune examined the space to see if there was a something that could pass for a relic but nothing caught his eye, apart from what appeared to be the skeleton of a human in the corner.

Well that was a good sign.

Jaune made his way to the pile of bones, not hearing the call of his name from his partner; with a small sorry muttered to the long dead huntsman he grabbed the ruined axe from the bone hand gripping it to examine the damage. The fact a quality weapon was warped like this meant whatever did it was very strong…

"JAUNE!"

And was probably still in the cave.

Jaune whipped his head around at the sound of his partners frantic shout only to see a large yellow shape speeding towards him, it was only thanks quick reflexes that he avoided having a hole pierced through his head. The skeleton wasn't as lucky as whatever tried striking Jaune continued moving and demolished the pile of old bones, reducing them to dust along with a section of the wall behind it. As Jaune rolled to his feet, the torch forgotten and slowing dying he peered into the darkness trying to find the aggressor. Multiple big yellow eyes opened in the dark and stared back at Jaune's cerulean blue. Jaune took a second to contemplate what the best plan to tackle the beast would be.

"RUN!"

And promptly decided legging it was the best option.

Jaune flung the warped axe into the shadows, a clanging sound rang through the chamber as the broken weapon bounced off of the hidden bone plating of the beast. But the throw wasn't meant to hurt the Grim but rather distract it, and the second of surprise given was all Jaune and Pyrrha needed to run back the way they came. Both students ran down the darkened path, trying to ignore the terrifying scream that the grim gave before it started giving chase. After a few moments of running for their lives the pair was able to dash out the stony entrance and back into the secluded clearing.

Immediately once they were clear Jaune skidded to a stop and drew his shotgun. Popping open the barrel Jaune emptied the two shells inside before reaching into a pouch on his belt and drawing two green shotgun shells. Placing the ammo into the chambers Jaune quickly snapped the barrel back into place before aiming at the stone entrance and quickly fired both shots. The exploding buck shredded the stone above the entrance causing the hole to be quickly caved in, drowning out another screech of the Grim before it could escape.

Both students stood there controlling their breathing as they stared at the rubble now blocking the cave they just explored. Jaune turned to look at his partner as he reloaded his gun and asked her an important question.

"Ok what was that!?"

"I think that was a deathstalker. But I don't think that I've ever seen one that big! Didn't think they could get that big…"

"Well whatever it was its not getting through that blockade any time soon." Commented Jaune as he stowed the shotgun back in its holster on his back.

 ***SMASH!***

" _I really need to keep my mouth shut and not tempt fate."_

Jaune turned around at the sound of stone being crushed and thrown about. He stared at the cloud of dust now covering the much larger hole in the wall and stared into it as the last remains of his makeshift barricade rolled to a stop at his feet. As the dust cloud died down a shadow started to become visible as it walked out of the cave. Jaune as well as Pyrrha drew their swords and shields as the creature was fully revealed.

"Holy shit! Look at the size of that deathstalker!"

And what a creature it was. The giant scorpion that emerged from the smoke stood proudly on its eight legs as its multiple eyes stared down the pair. Its claws which were the size of small rowing boats clicked together as its mouth pinchers hissed in displeasure from the sunlight. The white bone plating common on grim covered the top of its body, its claws and the segmented tail leading up to the bright yellow stinger that had tried to get intimate with Jaune's head. Despite all this however what drew the attention of the pair was the plant life growing on the bone plating. Small patches of moss and grass covered the plates which indicated a worrying thought. This deathstalker was old.

And an old grim was never an easy fight.

The deathstalker quickly decided it had enough of their existence and charged forward, snapping both hunters back to their senses as they dodged out of the way. The pair weren't given a moments rest because as soon as they were back on their feet the deathstalker struck forward with both of its claws, one for each huntsman. The pair both jumped backwards to avoid the attack, the claws scooping furrows out from the ground. Jaune tried to counterattack by slashing the claw's joint but the scorpion was too quick as it blocked the strike with the claw itself. Jaune withdrew his sword only to quickly duck as the stinger tried once again to sting his face. As he ducked however the claw took advantage as it surged forward and knocked Jaune backwards with a mighty swing.

Jaune tumbled for a few seconds before skidding to a stop. He shook the cobwebs out of his head from the blow as he spied how well his partner was faring. To be fair she was doing better that he was, using her shield to deflect the claw and striking back with her xiphos. But it seemed that she was struggling from the strained expression on her face. Because she was now focusing on both claws she failed to notice that its stinger was rearing back to strike her. With a surge of energy he jumped to his feet before sprinting back into the fray just in time to block the stinger with his shield. Jaune turned his head to quickly see if Pyrrha was alright and got a smile in return. That smile lasted a second before it morphed into wide eyed surprise. Before Jaune could question the change he found himself launched into the air.

The deathstalker had quickly realised that as long as the two were paired together they would continue to defend each other and make it very difficult to kill them. So it decided to separate them by launching one of them away. What it hadn't taken into account was how strong it had become since the last time it had fought a huntsman. So when it swung its boat sized claw at the blond it had the same effect as a driver hitting a golf ball. Both huntress and monster watched with wide eyed shock as Jaune sailed high into the air before his figure started to disappear like a shooting star.

Pyrrha cursed under her breath and sped away from the scorpion to the tree line in hot pursuit of her partner. However before slipping into the forest she remembered seeing a flash of sliver before Jaune was launched, looking at the feet of the truck sized grim she spotted Jaune's sword lying discarded on the floor. Extending a free hand out towards the sword caused the blade to become coated with a blackish aura before flying handle first towards her hand.

This had the unintended effect of catching the deathstalker with the tip of the blade, causing it to scrape along its bone plating and grabbing it's attention once more. It turned to see the streak of sliver reach the huntresses hand before she retreated into the forest. The deathstalker let loose a mighty screech before giving chase.

By the end of today it was going to have someone's corpse decorating its cave!

* * *

 **So this chapter and the next was supposed to be one big chapter. Then I saw the word count...**

 **Over 21000 words seemed a bit long for a chapter. Even by my standards.**

 **Because of this the next chapter is a little bit longer than this one due to not having that great of a stopping point between the two.**

 **So to help with the length of this chapter I wrote a little omake, based off of a comment from a reviewer.**

 **This one goes out for you Remnant's Sage! and I'll see you guy in a couple of weeks!**

* * *

As the sun once again started to lower from the sky, the streetlamps flickered on to take over the job of illuminating the city of Vale. All over the streets the citizens of vale began to close up shop or had started the journey back home. The owner of a small time noodle store had just finished for the day, the old man pulling down the shutters for his windows as his last pair of customers walked away with full stomachs and fuller smiles. A group of children had to postpone their basketball game as their parents came to collect them for dinner, and a large group of businessmen and women exited their work building, plans for the weekend floating around as conversation rose up from the group.

But one of those businessmen hung back from the group, keeping a watchful eye on his co-workers as they walked into the distance. Once he thought it safe he too exited the building but instead turned the other direction. The man adjusted his black tie and brushed off some stray hairs on his black suit as he walked down the pavement. Keeping a watchful eye as his head surveyed the streets he continued walking with a determined frown on his face, fixing his grip on the big black suitcase he held with his right hand. As he passed Junior's, confusion forming on his features as he saw how damaged the night club was he spotted his destination. A small alleyway tucked off in between two tall buildings, out of the way and completely unassuming. As the man got closer he quickly turned into the alley and continued down.

The alley in question might as well of been an oversight with the building plans of Vale. This was because of the fact that neither of the buildings that made the alley had a door leading out to it, the alley didn't lead to anywhere as it was a dead end and with the sun clocking out for the day it meant that the back of the alley was now coated in darkness due to the lack of lights lining the walls. But all this did was set up the perfect meeting spot as the person he was meeting with valued their ambiguity.

In all his meetings with the mystery figure he knew just as much as he did about them from the start, which was to say not a lot. All he knew was they liked to wear a large brown trench coat that covered their entire body and an equally brown fedora where the shadows it created hid their face from prying eyes. Even their voice changed every time they met. Sometimes they sounded like an old woman that greeted him with a friendly tone. Another time it sounded like a man that had inhaled too much helium, causing their voice to turn so high in pitch he had struggled to keep his laughter under control while said voice was threatening him.

Funnily enough they hadn't reused that voice.

The point was that everything about the figure made it impossible to pin any concrete features about them, hell he still wasn't sure if the figure was a man or woman yet. That made informing the local police force about his shady "friend" dam near impossible. (Not that he had any intention to do so, the figure had given him enough reason to not try and piss them off so he had no intention to try his luck).

He was broken out of his musings by the sound of a pair of footsteps sounding out from the dark. Turning his gaze to the inky black he saw the silhouette of his tormentor emerge from the shadows, garbed in their usual get up and face turned down to their wrist watch before slowly raising up to greet him.

" **Ah Roger, nice of you to finally show up. For a moment I had thought that you might have tried to skimp out of today's meeting. Not that it would have done much good for you if you had. I'm sure that you remember the last time you missed a meeting."**

The voice they had chosen for today was deep and intimidating. Roger could feel the bass coming off every word and the only reason it didn't freak him out was because he recognized the voice. A villain from his son's favourite cartoon show that he watched last night, something about

"Yes well work kept us all a bit behind today to prepare for the busy season coming our way. Trust me you proved your point the last time. I'm not going to turn up late on purpose anytime soon."

" **Please say you're not still harping on about that right? How was I supposed to know you simply forgot the date? As far as I was aware you were trying to break free from our deal so I acted accordingly. Besides it all worked out in the end right?"**

"Only because my wife is polite enough to not open letters addressed to other people! Imagine my surprise when I walk in from work one day, my wife passes me a letter before going to get dinner started, I open in and find out that my wife was _THIS CLOSE_ to finding out about all of this! I would have been ruined!"

" **And yet your wife is still none the wiser, and ever since that day you haven't been late to a meeting since. So no harm no foul."**

Roger wanted so badly to keep arguing but cut himself off before he could get too heated. The last thing he wanted was to piss off his tormentor while they still held all the cards. So all Roger did was let out a quiet groan to himself.

" **Now as much as I enjoy our conversations Roger I can tell that both of us are getting tired of this meeting so let's just cut to the chase. You have it?"**

"Of course." Roger replied as he raised the suitcase up to chest level. Rearing his arm back Roger flung the case over to the shadowed side. The mystery figure reached out with both arms and caught the case without it touching the ground.

" **And you…"**

"Didn't check what was inside because the guy gave it to me inside the case. Add on the fact that there is a six number combination lock which I have no clue in solving. Besides I don't want to know what's inside remember. Innocence through ignorance after all. I want nothing to do with whatever illegal activities your doing."

" **It's not as illegal as you think…"** muttered Trench Coat as they looked over the suitcase. Flipping the top of the case skyward the figure started entering in a combination on the number sliders. Hearing a soft click they turned the case on its side and popped it open. The fedora dipped down as they stared at the contents of the case for a minute, slowly making Roger nervous when no reaction was given. His fear was put to rest however as the case slammed shut and was placed into the darkness.

" **Well Roger you've done it again. I'll see you at the next drop. Remember, three days time."**

"Actually you won't."

Silence filled the alleyway after Roger's retort to the figure's question. Neither side made a sound, which caused beads of nervous sweat to run down the back of Roger's neck as his hindsight kicked in

" _Probably should have worded that better."_

Slowly and with obvious intention drawn to it the trenched figure reached into their coat pocket and pulled out a scroll, raising their thumb over the touch screen in a threatening manner.

" **You have ten seconds to explain yourself."**

"You said it yourself, when you first dragged me into all this. Fifty drops. That's all I would have to do. Today was the fiftieth so I'm done. You swore I would be finished after my last drop!"

The figure didn't respond for a moment, the lack of visible features not helping calm Roger's nerves. After an agonizing wait the shadowed figure starting messing with his scroll, which caused Roger's heart to start beating a thousand beats a minute. Before his heart could explode however the figure put him out of his misery.

" **Well would you look at that. Your right! Has it really been fifty drops already? Seems like it was just yesterday I was sending you that first threatening text… Good times."** The figure slouched their shoulders and let out a nostalgia filled sigh which sounded rather strange coming from the bass filled voice being used. However their quickly straightened their posture as they continued speaking. " **However did you really believe that you would just be let off the hook like that? You really believed that someone in my position would let you go just because I gave you my word? How stupid can you get?"**

Roger's face fell at the figure revealed the rather obvious flaw in his plan. They were a criminal! Of course they wouldn't keep to their word! All he could do now was pray that they found the attempt to break free funny enough to forgive him.

" **Luckily for you I am someone that keeps any promise I make."**

As Roger's dwindling hopes resurfaced Trench coat pocketed the scroll and pulled out a rather fat envelope. The letter bulged as its contents threatened to rip the paper in two. With a lazy flick the package was tossed over to the brighter side of the alley, into the awaiting hands of Roger.

" **It's fortunate for both of us that I always carry these on me for every meeting we have. Just in case."**

Giving the envelope a once over Roger popped the seal and pulled out the prize's inside, coming face to face with the proof of his shame.

Roger was a loyal man; anyone that knew him would testify that fact. He had followed the same football for the last five years, even when everyone else had left due to a terrible string of games that left them arguably the worst team in existence. He had remained a loyal member of the company that he worked for, despite the fact that over half of his co-workers had left for a rival company when it made a bid to steal his company's workers. So it should come as no surprise that this loyalty followed over into his married life. He loved his wife and children like nothing else in his life. And he had nearly ruined all that in a single night.

Whoever thought that a strip club was the best place for his brother's 30th birthday party needed a slap around the backside of their head. He had suggested that they stay in the sports bar, get wasted and reminisce on his brother's idiotic choices in life; but someone had to utter the words strip club, and the sex crazed manic that was his brother picked up on it like a hunting dog.

Now Roger didn't blame his brain for what happened that night. The poor piece of grey matter was too busy trying to prevent complete and utter system failure with all the alcohol swimming inside his body. But without his brain manning the controls, that left the responsibility of controlling his actions to his 'second head'.

And like all second heads, Roger's was not loyal.

A round of private dances started it off. The one that danced for him easily enticed the poor man with the lack of inhibitions he had. So when she dipped her head down to his level, with her cleavage on full display, her tiger tail rubbing up against a sizable bulge in his trousers and sultry voice asking if they wanted to "go a little further?"

He didn't stand a chance.

Two hours later and he was sitting at home, having gotten a taxi back after the slightest bit of morality had re-entered his skull. All the boys had sworn to secrecy, understanding the importance of keeping a tight lip about the night. And while he had struggled to look his partner in the face without feeling immense shame flush over him he had believed that he had gotten away with it.

That was until he received a message on his scroll three days later, containing a image of the crime mid act and instructions to meet up at some random alleyway.

Roger stared at the envelope with a reserved frown, carefully pulling out one of the multiple pictures. The one he pulled was taken just as it had begun, both he and the stripper were lip locked in a frenzy of lust. With a sigh he replaced the proof inside its envelope and reached into his suit pocket. Pulling out a stylised sliver lighter he popped the top up and flicked to life a small orange flame. The pictures lasted only a second before their corner caught alight, starting the transformation of damming evidence into harmless ash. As the pictures burned he replaced the lighter into his pocket before pulling out a cigarette. Lighting the cancer stick on his burning photos he dropped the envelope to the floor as he enjoyed a drag of smoke.

" **So what do you plan to do now?"**

As the figure posed their question Roger stared into the dancing flames as they worked their magic. As he watched the faces of the stripper and his own blacken and crumble into ash a realisation struck inside his head. Trench coat might have been the first to try and blackmail him with this information but surely they wouldn't be the last. Sooner or later his wife was going to find out what he had done. With a determined nod to himself he realised what he had to do.

"I'm going to tell my wife what I did."

" **Really? After everything you did to not let her find out you're going to just ruin it straight away?"**

"If you could find out what happened then it stands to reason that others could as well. Besides the news would be better coming out of my mouth than someone else's."

" **You do realise that you are risking a lot on this right? What will you do if she refuses to forgive you?"**

As the flames finally died out, leaving a pile of unrecognisable ash on the street floor Roger gave a big sigh before proudly declaring his answer. "If she doesn't forgive me then I will just have to accept that she deserves much better than my unloyal ass! I know it won't be easy, but I need to accept the consequences of my actions!"

With a fierce scowl on his face he turned around so he was facing the street outside and kicked the pile of ash, coating his leg in ash while sending a black cloud to blow out into the streets. The wind quickly caught the black smokescreen in its embrace and sent the remains of his betrayal up into the clouds.

"So long my mystery tormentor! I hope we never meet again!"

With a flick of his middle finger behind him he strolled out of the alley with his head held high and a spring in his step, humming a tune as he strolled down the street to his home.

The figure left in the alley didn't move, their lack of features hiding the confusion and surprise on their face. Now alone, the figure used their new solitude to voice their thoughts aloud.

" **Did he forget about the digital copies I have on my scroll?"**

"I think he did, although I think that was because he was so excited about being free."

" **That would explain the finger that he gave us when he left. Speaking of are we going to do anything about that?"**

"Nah, there's no point in doing so if he's spilling his own secret. Besides we made a promise that we wouldn't bother him after he was done. And you know what Big brother says…"

" _If you make a promise you better be prepared to keep it."_ the voice of Jaune sounded from the figure in scarily accurate imitation. **"Don't worry I remember."**

"By the way are we clear?"

" **Yeah we're clear."**

"Ok then do me a favour and GET OFF ME!"

As the figure's two sided conversation with themselves came to a close the top half of the figure seemed to sway before the coat popped open, revealing the two small figures inside.

The bottom half of the pair gave a sigh of relief as her sister's weight disappeared from her shoulders, rolling them about to work out the ache they had as the last dregs of the trench coat washed over her form. Without the large garment hiding her from view she was now clearly in sight for the world. Wearing a dark purple dress with a white ribbon around her waist and her smart black shoes she brushed the skirt of her dress straight before doing the same to her short brown hair, being careful around the two small brown bear ears sitting on top of her head. Turning her head to look at her sister her bright green eyes saw that her sister had yet to take off the disguise, making it look like the trench coated figure had been cleaved in two.

" **A little warning could be nice next time Marsha; I really don't want to fall on my face."**

"Then don't take so long to get off my shoulders next time! And quit with the voice already! There's no one else around to hear us anymore."

"Ok, ok I'll stop." replied the sister, finally returning back to her normal voice as she disrobed from their disguise. Removing the hat revealed long red hair that flowed past her shoulders as she unbound it from its prison. Removing the large coat revealed a dark green dress very similar to her sister's. As she folded up the trench coat and passed the disguise to her sister she took a moment to inspect her arms. Running from her wrists and stretching down her forearms were a multitude of red, green and blue feathers, a few of which were sticking out at odd and out of place angles. With a concentrated look on her face she started smoothing out her arms, fixing the wayward feathers back into place.

"So _Juliana_ , when's our next meeting again?"

"ITS JULIE!" replied her sister, breaking away from her important task to angrily yell and stomp her tiny feet in anger. When she only receiving a chuckle from her sister she pouted and returned to her task, plucking a blue feather that wouldn't stay down after being groomed. "And our next meeting is with that shopkeeper in about four days time."

Nodding at her sister's answer Marsha turned around to one of the cardboard boxes that lined the alleyway. Lifting the box up revealed two small backpacks hidden from sight. Grabbing both of them Marsha unzipped one and placed the hat and coat inside, zipping the bag shut before putting it on her back.

"Well we need to start making our way home now, if we're late mama Tenenbaum will ground us AGAIN."

Getting a nod back from her sister Juliana grabbed her backpack from her sister's hand and placed it down onto the floor, unzipping it so it was ready to receive its load. Reaching for the suitcase she pulled it closer to her and started entering the combination for the locks. A couple of seconds later the latches popped open allowing the case to be reopened. As the case opened up and revealed the prize inside Juliana couldn't help but stare at it for a moment. The call of her name was the thing that brought her back to her senses.

"Julie? We happy?"

"Yeah sis…" answered Juliana as she turned the suitcase around to face her sister so she too could see the fruits of their labour.

A Jumbo family sized box of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flake's. Complete with the picture of the current mascot Pyrrha Nikos poised mid combat on the front of the box, no doubt protecting the marshmallow goodness inside from hordes of grim.

" **We very happy."**

* * *

 **Yes... Its canon**


	5. The showdown with a ancient foe

**So we're back once again, getting through the final part of the entrance exam this chapter.**

 **I'll keep this bit brief as I'm sure you guys want to continue with the story so lets get straight to it!**

* * *

Turns out Air deathstalker was just as bad a flight company as Launch pad airways. Next time he flew he was going to book with a proper service.

For the second time that day Jaune found himself launched into the air, his body flailing around as he desperately tried to right himself mid-flight. As Jaune fought to control his twisting body he decided to try and use his surprise flight to his advantage to try and spot the ruins. As luck would have it he could easily see that the direction he was flying took him over a circular stone altar with several small pillars doted inside it. Looking down he even saw a couple of people grabbing something from one of the pillars.

"Well that's the ruins found at least. Now the only question that remains is how I'm going to get down there without overshooting the landing too far."

*CRASH*

Well that's one way to do it.

As random chance would have it Jaune wasn't the only student falling from the sky. As even more random chance would have it both bodies collided in the air, killing their momentum and sending them careening into the tree tops. After their fall had been broken by leaves, branches and the odd bird nest Jaune settled himself on the branch he had landed on and had a look at the body he had intersected in the air. To his surprise he saw Ruby up in the tree with him, a dazed expression on her face as she tried to get her bearings. After a shake of her head she looked up to a branch higher that her own and saw Jaune looking down at her.

"Jaune! What are you doing up there?"

"Not much, was flying through the air thanks to a deathstalker. All of a sudden something hits me and knocks me out of the sky. Sound familiar Ruby?"

"To be fair I didn't know you were gonna be beneath me when I jumped."

"Jumped?"

At the question she pointed up into the sky with a sheepish smile. Jaune followed the finger to see a huge grim flying in the air. The bird shaped grim was a large creature, probably as big if not bigger than the deathstalker that launched him. Long black feathers covered the bird with two powerful black legs sticking out of the bottom of the bird's body. On the main edge of its impressive wing span it sported a set of claws much like a pterodactyl. Its beak/head was covered in the distinctive bone mask most grim wore with its two sets of eyes glaring at anything it looked at.

 _"Huh. Well cross easy nevermore off the list of potential flight companies. Not that they were high up on that list in the first place…"_

"Do I want to know why you were riding a giant nevermore or is that a story best left unsaid?"

"I thought that I could use the bird's eye view to find were the ruins were. It worked but I didn't really think about how I was going to get down."

"Well we found it so let's grab a relic and get out of here."

With that they both dropped down from the tree and started walking to the ruins site. As they walked the two figures that Jaune had seen earlier started to make their way over. The one with black hair was unfamiliar with Jaune but the one with the sea of blonde hair was easily recognisable.

"Yang!"

It helped that Ruby confirmed it for him as well.

Ruby sped off towards her sister while Jaune decided to take a slower pace, having no need for the urgency Ruby did. As he watched the sisters reunite Jaune turned his attention to the fourth member of the huntershop quartet in the clearing.

Her feet were covered with black low heeled boot with stockings riding up her legs, starting a purple colour from her ankles and morphing to black the higher they went. White shorts with a zipper on the front of each leg followed, leaving her midriff exposed. Her top half consisted of a white sleeveless crop undershirt with a black single buttoned vest with coattails on top. Black ribbons were wrapped around her forearms with her left arm sporting a detached black sleeve. Amber eyes stared at Jaune as he finished his examination, her pale skin contrasting with her raven black hair that flowed down her back and the purple eye shadow around her eyes. The last thing of note was a large black bow sitting on the top of her head. A little out of place if you asked Jaune but then again he wasn't the best when it came to fashion advice.

Well, time to play nice he supposed.

"Hey there, name's Jaune" he greeted while sticking out his hand. The mystery girl stared at the hand for a moment or two before reaching out to meet it.

"Blake." She answered somewhat curtly, shaking his hand before it quickly retreated back to her side.

"So I'm guessing that miss golden mane over there is your partner right?"

"For better or for worse I suppose yes. I guess that means that her sister is your partner then?"

"Nah I kinda got separated from my actual partner when a deathstalker decided to practice its golfing drive with me as the ball."

"Wait what?"

"But I'm sure that she saw which direction I flew so I'll just stay here and wait for her. After all this is the ruins we needed to find right?"

That question remained unanswered because as soon as Jaune finished speaking a loud roar sounded from the tree line. Four sets of eyes turned to the direction of the sound to see a black figure make its way into the clearing. What stumbled out was one of the biggest ursa that Jaune had ever seen, thrashing its front arms wildly as is moved forward on two legs. Everyone readied their weapons and waited to see what the grim would do. Ruby raised her scythe, Yang raised her fists and Blake raised a black sword before unsheathing its hilt and holding it alongside it in a dual wield style. Jaune got himself ready as well, raising his shield and pointing his…

Where was his sword?

Jaune looked at the offending right hand, only now noticing its lack of ancestral blade. Panic soon settled on his face at the realisation before fruitlessly searching the clearing for the sword, ignoring the confused looks of his fellow hunters.

 _"Where is it?! How could I lose my sword?! Ok Jaune calm down, don't panic. Just retrace your steps. I had it while I fought the deathstalker; I got launched into the air… Did I drop it while flying through the air?"_

Jaune gut wrenched at the idea, the thought of his sword being lost somewhere in the forest was not a pleasant one, because if that was the case there was a very good chance that he wasn't going to be able to find the thing in that sea of green. Jaune shook his head and gathered his thoughts as he returned to staring down the ursa. At the moment the matter of where his sword was would have to wait, what mattered now was that a huge ursa was walking towards them and needed to be killed. He could work out a plan about finding his sword after he was finished pulling the edge of his shield out of aaaaaand its dead.

The bear suddenly crashed to the floor, the glow in his eyes dying out as it passed from this world. The cause for its sudden death was rather obvious. A heavy looking war hammer was imbedded into the spiked back of the beast, resting in the hands of a girl with ginger hair.

"NOOOOOO! Mr CuddleBuns!"

The girl leapt off the ursa, her hammer compacting into itself to fit on the girls back as she faced the ursa's head. She grabbed the sides of the grim's head and brought it even with her eye level as she gave a heartfelt goodbye.

"I'm sorry Mr CuddleBuns, I'm sorry that I pushed you too hard. I didn't mean for this to happen. Just know this Mr CuddleBuns; your noble sacrifice will not be in vain! I promise you that I'll beat this test. I'll become a huntress in your name! I will never forget you."

The Ursa didn't react to the farewell speech; too busy disappearing from existence to appreciate it. The girl gently placed the now smoking head to the floor before giving a salute to the grim corpse. At that moment a second figure stumbled into the clearing, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath from chasing after his partner.

"Nora, I'm only going to say this once. Don't ever do that again. Nora?"

At the lack of the answer he raised his head and looked at the disappearing grim corpse and wasn't surprised to see that there was a lack of ginger haired partner next to him. He turned his gaze over to the stone structure ahead of him and saw his partner darting around the stone pillars like a child in a sweet shop. With a sigh he made his way over to the ruins to try and control his partner.

* * *

Nora bounded between the pillars with a carefree spring in her step. Today had been going great! She had managed to beat her previous pancake record at breakfast this morning, she had managed to find Ren in time to become partners with him before anyone else thanks to their SSSN™ protocol (Super-Secret Sloth Noises), and to top it off she had been able to fight off a massive group of grim before fulfilling a lifelong dream by riding an Ursa! Granted the fact that she killed her noble steed before she could tame him left a sour note on the accomplishment… but it was a necessary sacrifice! Now she was one step closer to becoming a huntress. The next step was to choose a relic.

Although Nora struggled to call the little figures relics. Most of the small stone pillars that made up the ruins sported a small figure resting atop them. Atop the pillars sat pieces to a game that (and Nora was being generous here) held as much enjoyment as watching paint dry. Chess pieces to be exact. Ren had tried to teach her how to play once, and it had been made very clear that the attempt should never be repeated. So when the headmaster meant "relics" he must have meant "a random board game I found in my office because I didn't have time to find anything important".

"Oh well, just need to grab a piece and that will make me a huntress in training! And because I need another steed…"

Nora searched the pillars for her prize before finding the only one left. With a grin she swiped the knight piece from its place and raised it high into the air, proclaiming at the top of her voice

"I now christen you Mr CuddleBuns Jr! you will be my mascot and live on in Mr CuddleBuns senior's place! You will make him proud!"

"NORA!"

"Coming Reny!"

And like that the hyperactive ginger made her way back to her partner, wooden horse head in hand. Four pairs of eyes followed her, all of them watching the girl greet her partner by shoving the knight piece into his face only to receive a telling off form said partner about running ahead and riding grim off into the tree line. Jaune couldn't help but feel a little bad for the aforementioned "Reny". He could understand what it was like to live with a "Nora". Just not to the same extent.

 _'Jeez and I thought Marsha on a sugar rush was bad. Give me all seven of the girls hyped up on pixie sticks over handling that 24/7. You would be worrying less about how much danger their in and about how much the damages would cost. That guy must have the patience of a saint. Still you can tell their close, must have been together for a long time for a bond between two complete opposites to form.'_

Yang slung her arms over both Jaune and Ruby's shoulders, drawing them closer in as she watched the odd pair in front of her with a smirk on her face. "Well Jaune, at least I can take solace in the fact that as Ruby's partner you aren't gonna put her life in risk by leaving her behind like that girl did. Right?" she asked, gripping her hand tightly on Jaune's shoulder.

"She's not my partner/He's not my partner."

"You… you're not?" asked Yang, confusion (and a hint of relief) on her face.

"I'm waiting for my partner to join me after I got launched into the air. Pretty sure she saw me fly this way so I'll just meet up with her here."

"Ok you're excused but what about you Ruby? You said that Jaune wasn't your partner so where's yours?"

"Well…"

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME UP HERE!?"

At the sound of that shout Jaune's face fell into a deadpan stare. Surely Ruby wasn't that unlucky when it came to finding a partner. Surely Ruby wasn't stupid enough to drag her partner onto the Nevermore, jump of said Nevermore and then neglect to tell her partner to do the same? But as Jaune looked up into the sky and saw the giant black bird fly overhead he saw her. Dangling from one of its feet for dear life, her white clothing standing out against the black feathers was one Weiss Schnee.

And she did not sound happy.

"I TOLD YOU TO JUMP!" Called out her partner, safely from ground level.

"AND IN WHAT WORLD WOULD THAT OF BEEN A GOOD IDEA!?"

"IT WORKED FOR ME!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN CURSED WITH YOU AS A PARTNER YOU INSUFFERABLE…"

SQUAWK!

Oh great, now both birds had started squawking.

The nevermore seemed like it had grown tired of the snow coloured freeloader on its claw, and had started to try and shake Weiss off. The six students on the ground were treated to a wonderful rodeo show as Weiss desperately tried to maintain her grip despite the grim's best attempts of shaking her off.

"She's gonna fall eventually you know." Spoke Ren, looking at the struggling heiress in the sky

"Nah. She'll be fine!" Denied Ruby, Waving a hand in Ren's direction to deny the truth.

"And she's falling." Countered Blake, voice a deadpan tone.

True to Blake's word the nevermore had managed to shake off its unwilling passenger with a sharp turn in the air, flicking the white themed huntress into the air where she started her plummet to the ground.

Jaune's eyes followed her fall from grace with a concerned frown on his face, speaking aloud his thoughts. "Someone should probably help her." He muttered, receiving grunts and nods in confirmation. After a couple of seconds Jaune turned his eyes to the others of the group to see them all staring at the falling heiress, with none of them making any move to help.

"Well don't all rush up at once!" yelled Jaune as he turned and ran in the direction of Weiss. As Jaune sprinted to try and get beneath Weiss's falling shadow he stuck out two fingers and aimed them at the ground. For Jaune's eyes only a small pillar of wind started to form, a miniature tornado rising from the ground that spun in place where he had pointed. Jaune leapt into the air before landing in the centre of the vortex where he braced his knees and looked up, aiming his body into the sky. The winds trapped beneath his feet started to struggle, their power building with intensity as they begged to be released. Jaune didn't make them wait for long as his eyes locked onto the snowflake falling to the earth.

All he did then was jump; and the winds made him fly.

Like a water pressure rocket the trapped winds blasted him sky high. A speeding bullet cutting through the air as he flew up to meet his goal. With his arms outstretched he snatched the Schnee out of the sky, bringing her along on his ride as their momentum slowed down, causing them to start falling. With one arm securing the no longer screaming heiress his other pointed down to the earth, where another local twister had sprouted out of the ground. Jaune angled his fall as best he could, aiming for the eye of the mini storm. And just as his feet had nearly reached the ground the winds detonated prematurely, the powerful gust's softening their impact as Jaune landed on the ground in what could only be described as a "superhero landing".

Jaune stood up from his kneeling position, shaking his legs of the numbness they felt before turning his gaze to the girl in his arms. After realising that she was no longer falling to her doom Weiss slowly opened her eyes and looked around, quickly spotting the figure holding her in his arms. Her eyes snapped up to Jaune's to see a concerned gaze starting back. After a few seconds staring into his eyes Weiss quickly realized what kind of position she was in and as a result her face exploded with a vibrant red colour with her immediately starting to struggle out of his grip.

"Let go of me right now!"

Jaune stared at the struggling snowflake before doing as she asked, dropping her unceremoniously onto the forest floor. He then started his walk back to the group, ignoring the sounds of indignation sounding from the heiress behind him.

"Well that's your partner accounted for at least" Muttered Yang to her sister watching as both of the teens made their return to the group. "Now all we have to do is wait for Jaune's partner to turn up and then the gang's all here!"

"You make it sound like you don't want them to show up." Sounded Ren as he looked at the blonde haired brawler.

"Well between Jaune being flung through the air by a deathstalker, my sister and Weiss falling from the sky after riding a nevermore and Nora arriving on ursaback I'm getting a little sick and tired of all the flashy entrances. I just want Jaune's partner to arrive nice and normally."

From a rustle in the tree line ran out Pyrrha, as if she was waiting for someone to announce her arrival into the clearing. As she slowed down to get her bearings of the location it was clear that she was still a little on edge, both her shield and sword were drawn and ready for use. However she quickly located the stone ruins and the group of seven students loitering in them. Recognising the blond male she started running up to the group, a smile on her face as she saw he was alright.

"See Yang. You ask and you receive!" sprouted Ruby to her sister

"Give it a minute." Replied Yang, a deadpan look on her face.

Jaune turned at the sound of the rustle to see his partner finally arrive. With a smile on his face he split off from the group to make sure she was okay.

"Jaune! I'm so glad that you're ok! When you went flying I was worried that the worst would happen!"

"Well no worries are needed Pyrrha. As you can see I was able to land safe and sound."

"Well I think that you forgot something when you left me alone with the Deathstalker…"

With this Jaune took notice of the sword hilt on her back, despite her having both her sword and shield in her hands. With a grin he reached out and drew the sword off of her back to see that familiar streak of sliver he knew as his sword. Stepping back from Pyrrha he gave the steel a few practice swings before he sheathed the blade.

"Thanks Pyrrha. If I had lost this there was a good chance I wouldn't have been able to find it. Losing my blade would have been…"

"Bad?"

"Yeah let's go with that. I'm sorry that I got separated like that. But it all worked out in the end right? After all you managed to lose the deathstalker that was chasing us!"

"Well...

"HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

"I never said that I did."

Both Jaune and Pyrrha turned to the sound of the hiss behind them. Following the trail that Pyrrha had made and making it much larger in the process the deathstalker burst out into the clearing, knocking down the trees that got in its path. Without stopping it continued its path of destruction towards the red headed spartan it had been chasing, spurring the two students to run back to their group. As Jaune risked a glance back at the charging scorpion behind them he was vaguely aware that his partner called out a "head's up!" Turning his gaze back to his front he had a split second to duck his head to dodge two small pill like grenades that flew over where his head was. The deathstalker wasn't as lucky in dodging the explosive payloads as they crashed into its body, resulting in its prey getting away, a large boom impacting its armour and a pink cloud of smoke covering its body.

Jaune and Pyrrha returned to the group safely, arriving just in time to see Nora holding her hammer in its grenade launcher mode (as if the girl wasn't destructive enough). With a flourish the weapon was stored on her back as she turned to Jaune.

"You think I got him?" asked Nora with a smile on her face

"You got him alright. I just wonder if it actually did anything." Replied Jaune as he turned his gaze at the pink cloud.

The smoke stayed in the air for a tense moment before with a shriek the deathstalker burst out, disrupting the smoke that had shrouded it. The grenades had surprisingly done something, as its white armour was now sporting small scorch marks where the grenades had hit. However all that had seemed to do was bring the scorpion to new heights of anger.

Despite this anger however the deathstalker was hesitant to move forward. The pair that had wandered into his cave had multiplied from 2 to 8. It wasn't really thrilled at those odds if it was being honest with itself. However when it's eyes quickly caught the movement of a large shadow on the ground it relaxed, keeping its eyes on the group of huntsman as it waited for the signal from its new partner in the sky.

The group stared at the giant deathstalker across the clearing, a general wave of confusion shared between the hunters as they spied it simply waiting there doing nothing.

"Err why isn't it moving to attack us?" asked a confused Ruby, her baby in her hands but not fully deployed.

"Hey! Do you think I knocked its brain's loose with my grenades!?" asked Nora with an excited bounce in her step.

"Do Grim even have brains?" asked Blake as she looked over to the scorpion currently staring the group down.

"Who cares? I think it's just scared of the group of 8 strong huntsman in training that will break its legs if it comes too close!" Boasted Yang as she cracked her knuckles before flicking her fists down, causing her gauntlet weapons to extend over her fists.

"Ooh! You say that too?!" Exclaimed Nora.

"Look we can discuss whether the deathstalker has lost its marbles or if it came down with a case of stage fright later, when we are in our rooms at beacon after completing our test. Let's just grab our relics and get back to beacon!" Interrupted Jaune as he turned away from the scorpion and started to walk to the stone pedestals.

"Of course the man dressed up as a knight would be the coward of the group." mocked Weiss.

"No Jaune's right! We don't need to fight these things! Our objective was to grab a relic and make it back to the cliffs. We don't need to fight these things!" defended Ruby

Jaune tuned out the response given by the heiress at Ruby's interruption in favour of grabbing a relic. Moving to the closet pedestal that still bore a relic he grasped it with his hand. Giving the rook chess piece a quick glance he stuffed the wooden figure into one of his leather pouches on his belt. As he checked the pouch to make sure the 'relic' was secured his eyes caught a glimpse of black from above. Looking up said eyes widened at the sight before he called out a panicked "DUCK!"

The group behind him turned their attention to the shouting blond before they too saw what he had seen. They quickly followed his advice, ducking out of way and dodging to the side. The only one that didn't was Nora, who was too busy staring at the approaching figure in the sky.

"Silly Jaune. That's not a duck, that's a neverm... Oop!"

She didn't get the chance to finish what she was saying as Ren dragged her to the side. A moment later the stone ruins were peppered with large black feathers falling down like machine gun fire, sticking into the ground like javelins with points just as sharp. Jaune's early warning was the only reason the group managed to dodge its line of fire. The large nevermore swooped down after its feathers, barely missing Blake as she dodged the set of claws trying to whisk her away. It let out a angry caw as it shot back up into the sky before it started banking left, turning in the sky to get ready for another pass. This was the signal the deathstalker was waiting for as it now charged forward, intent of striking while the group wasn't ready. Quickly rising to his feet at the sight of the freight train of a scorpion charging them Jaune called out to his fellow students.

"NEW PLAN! GRAB YOUR SHIT AND MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE CLIFFS!"

"SWEAR!"

"NOW IS NOT THE TIME RUBY!"

Scooping up one of the relics from the now more aptly named ruins he chucked the figure over to Ruby before starting to bolt in the direction of the cliffs. Ruby had just enough time to catch and stow away the mini castle thrown to her before chasing after him. The others had listened to Jaune's call, already running in the direction of the cliffs. Yang had hung back to make sure that her little sis was fine, punching shotgun slugs that flew like fireballs at the Deathstalker to slow it down. Once Ruby was up on her feet both sisters chased after the group, quickly catching up when Ruby grabbed Yang's arm and used a burst of her semblance, causing a flurry of rose petals to zoom to the front of the group in a blink of an eye. From the cloud of petals popped out Ruby and Yang keeping full pace with the others as they sped off to the cliffs; followed by an Angry nevermore chasing them from the sky and a Deathstalker tailing them from the ground.

* * *

It hadn't been long since starting their run but Jaune was already cursing the fact that Ruby hadn't sliced the head off the nevermore before she had jumped off.

The group had been running to the cliffs for about 10 minutes now and both of the creatures chasing them had been problematic for the group. The deathstalker had proven to be quite the fast runner and had been able to keep pace with the gang reasonably well, forcing the students to maintain a tiring running speed. That wouldn't be that much of a problem if it wasn't for the Nevermore constantly showering the group with its feathery ammunition. Every pass made over the group brought waves of spikes raining to the ground forcing the group to keep a constant eye on the sky. The only saving grace was that the nevermore wasn't trying to snatch anyone from the ground anymore. It tried to abduct Nora and received several grenades into its chest for the effort so it had learned that lesson fast.

Thankfully the cliff edge was fast approaching which meant the end goal was in sight. Said sight housed old stone structures that made the previous ruins look like a child's building block creation, large stone spires rose from the misty depths of a chasm with bridges connecting them to each other and the cliff edge the group sought. One of these bridges connected to their side of the chasm being the only connection reasonably close to them. With their destination in sight the students put on an extra burst of speed, rushing onto the stone bridge. The Deathstalker tried to follow but stopped itself just before the stone bridge. Its bigger frame stopped it from pursuing its prey from fear of falling into the chasm below. Still running forward Jaune looked back at the sound of frustration coming from the scorpion to see it unable to follow, a smile appearing at seeing the deathstalker unable to harm them anymore.

Too bad he had forgotten about the nevermore.

Seeing its ally unable to continue chasing the humans it had decided to force them into its claws. With a sharp caw it dived bombed the stone bridge, easily smashing straight through the aging structure. This ended up launching the group into the air, splitting the group in half as their fell on either side of the gap in the bridge. Jaune rose to one knee as he looked at the three other bodies next to him, spotting Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha lying on his side of the bridge. He shifted his gaze over to confirm that Blake, Yang, Nora and Ren had landed on the other side. Yang quickly rose to her feet when she saw her sister wasn't beside her, frantically looking around until see saw her safe in the other side of the bridge. Her peace of mind didn't last long however as she saw the situation her sister was in.

"RUBY! GET OFF THE BRIDGE! ITS GONNA COLLAPSE!"

Jaune looked down at the stone beneath his feet and immediately saw what she had meant. The nevermore in its crash flight had taken out one of the main supports for his side of the bridge. Combine that with the age of the brickwork and that left a bridge that was wobbling with every step placed on it. As the three girls on his side started to stand up Jaune saw that the only way off the bridge was back the way they came. That meant running head first into the pinchers of the deathstalker that was blocking their way.

""Girls! Back the way we came, leave the deathstalker to me!"

"What are you going to do you buffoon?!"

"Just trust me Weiss!"

Without waiting for another response Jaune started his sprint to the cliffside. Pyrrha and Ruby after a moment's hesitation followed, running behind him with a reluctant Weiss following after. The stone foothold beneath their feet started to break apart as they bolted back over the bridge, pieces of the ancient brickwork breaking off as they ran due to their weight. The deathstalker hissed in pleasure at seeing its prey run right into its path. Opening its pinchers wide the scorpion readied itself to strike, its weapon's primed to grab the closest human to reach it.

This left it wide open for Jaune's counter attack.

To be fair it was a plan made out of desperation. With his footing falling around him and a hungry deathstalker in his way he wasn't in the right frame of mind to come up with anything amazing. He didn't need amazing however; all he needed was for it to work. When the deathstalker gave him that opening he raised his left hand and clicked his fingers. A spark jumped from the friction but other than that nothing happened. Apart from the inferno that spread across the deathstalker's face of course.

The beast immediately reared itself back to escape from the sudden blaze, hissing in pain as the heat seared the bone plating on its face. In its attempt to put out the blazing fire it backed away from the bridge and started to awkwardly shovel dirt into its face using its pinchers. This now opened path allowed the group of four to safely make their way back onto solid ground. As Weiss's feet pushed off the bridge to leap to the cliff edge the last amount of strength the bridge held fell away, causing the stone to fall into the chasm below. The four students gave the former bridge a quick glance before breathing a sigh of relief, this relief was cut short when an angry rumbling sounded from behind.

They turned around to the sight of an angry deathstalker staring them down. The front of its face was covered with both scorch marks and clumps of dirt, complete with a yellow flower sitting on top of its head. The fire had done little lasting damage and had only seemed to make the beast angrier. Seeing that a fight was now unavoidable the four students drew their weapons. Ruby's scythe sliced through the air as it opened with a flourish at the back of the group. Both Jaune and Pyrrha brandished their swords and shields at the front of the group, ready to both attack or defend if necessary. Finally Weiss got into stance in the middle as she drew her weapon, a rapier with a revolving chamber built into the hilt. Each of the slots on said chamber was filled to the brim with different kinds of dust, allowing for powerful elemental strikes funnelled down the precise blade the rapier provided. Seeing its enemies ready themselves the deathstalker gave a mighty screech before charging the group head on.

Because screw fighting smart! It was angry and they needed to die NOW!

* * *

When Jaune had saved his first little sister he had thought to himself that there was never going to be anything harder to take down than a big daddy in his life. He now wanted to go back in time to slap himself for ever thinking that. Give him a big daddy over a deathstalker any day. At least he knew where to stab a big daddy.

The fight with the scorpion was… progressing. It became clear from the start that none of them was able to take out the beast on they own so teamwork was vital and to be fair they were working together rather well.

If you ignored the fact that Ruby tried to rush the deathstalker at the start and was nearly impaled by its stinger for her efforts. The only reason Ruby turned out okay was that Weiss was able to create an ice wall between the two, trapping the stinger just before it could sting her.

After a quick tongue lashing followed by an awkward apology of her previous behaviour from Weiss their teamwork improved heavily. Jaune and Pyrrha were on the front line engaging its claws thanks to their shields, blocking dangerous blows while Weiss and Ruby provided support and capitalised on the openings provided by their shield bearers. However it started to become apparent to Jaune that they weren't going to win this battle at this rate. The problem was that they couldn't manage to land a solid hit. Its bone plating was too thick for their weapons to do anymore than scratch the surface, and it still held enough smarts to stop or dodge any attack aimed at its weak spots. They could try to force their way through the plating with brute strength but none of them had the strength for that. They could try to outlast the deathstalker and take it out when it was too tired to fight back, which considering that they were already exhausted when starting the fight wasn't going to happen.

That left one final last option, outsmart the scorpion and use tactics to take it down. Since Jaune's mind was coming up with blanks at the moment it wasn't going so well.

Jaune grunted as he endured another blow to his shield courtesy of the giant claw he was fighting. Jaune grit his teeth and pushed back the claw, refusing to lose ground. As the claw was knocked back by a bash of his shield Jaune saw a flash of red shoot across the corner of his vision. Ruby's impressive speed had allowed her to zoom around to the side of the deathstalker. Once she had positioned herself she stopped before readying her scythe behind her. With a click of a trigger the top of the scythe lit up as the high calibre round flew from the barrel. But Ruby hadn't aimed at the deathstalker. Her shot fired behind her, the bullet streaking off into the tree line.

Which meant the recoil launched Ruby towards the deathstalker like a rocket.

Ruby was already fast before thanks to her semblance, but the extra kick given by her rifle's recoil flung Ruby even faster than normal. As she sped towards the side of the giant deathstalker she aimed her sniper at the floor and fired again, the recoil this time sent Ruby spinning through the air like a Catherine wheel. The red of her colour scheme made her look like a red buzz saw hurtling towards the scorpion. Said scorpion braced itself just as the spinning red death made contact. Jaune had expected to see the beast cleaved in two.

He didn't expect to see the scythe clash with the amour and send a surprised Ruby high into the air.

The scythe had come down on the deathstalker's back with the intention of cutting straight through the bone, but Ruby had vastly underestimated the strength of the natural plating and so wasn't ready when her scythe stopped mid-strike. This sudden change of momentum flung Ruby into the air, her scythe flying next to her. Thankfully Ruby was able to snatch her weapon out of the air and land safely, even though it was an awkward landing as she stumbled and fell onto her butt. As Ruby stood up she gave Crescent Rose a quick check over before giving a gasp of shock. The clash had heavily damaged the blade of the scythe, cracks running along the steel with chips missing along the edge. Nothing that would put the weapon out of commission but it meant the blade was now useless until a replacement could be fitted. While Ruby fretted over her baby Jaune noticed that Ruby's attack hadn't been for nothing. Where the scythe had struck he could now see a gash made into the bone. It wasn't too deep or too wide but it was still a clear marker that damage had been dealt.

Not wanting to be outdone by her partner Weiss took her chance to rush in with her rapier, intent of causing damage herself. Before her strike could connect however the beast's giant stinger shot forward, intent on spearing her chest. As the stinger drew closer Weiss stopped her charge and crouched down. From her feet Jaune spotted small white lines spread out onto the ground. These lines formed a ring that fanned out into an intricate snowflake design. This didn't last long as the pattern disappeared when Weiss jumped, clearing several times her own height over the grim's strike. As she rose into the air she pointed her rapier down to the back of the deathstalker. From the point of her rapier another of her snowflake glyphs appeared quickly shooting streaks of white light. The projectiles rained down onto the deathstalker's back causing it to screech as it backed away out of the bombardment zone. As Weiss gracefully landed onto the ground Jaune noticed that the blasts had covered the back of the deathstalker with a sizable amount of ice, as well as frosting the ground around it.

And just like that, an idea blossomed in Jaune's head. Born from an old message he had heard that was never meant for him.

 _"Look Steinman, I'm sure you want me telling you how to run your pavilion as much as I want you telling me how to run security for the city. But because you seem to be unaware of a rather important chemistry lesson I feel like I need to play teacher for a bit. Ocean water is colder that a witch's tit. When water gets too cold it starts to freeze. When water freezes in an enclosed space, say like a water pipe it expands. You don't heat your pipes they freeze. They freeze; they burst, then Rapture leaks. Now I'm sure you're the man to go to for a face lift or a liposuction but you ain't no plumber. Heat those pipes or you're the one telling Mr Arc why his city has turned into a glorified fish bowl!"_

Now Steinman didn't seem to get that message as his medical pavilion had been full of icy blockades made from leaking broken pipes. But that message had given him an answer for how to kill the deathstalker. Looking at the frozen back of the scorpion Jaune saw that the ice had filled and covered the gash it its back that Ruby had made. Looking back down at his left hand Jaune focused as he readied his fingers to snap. Beneath the skin of his hand the red molten motif returned for a brief moment before fading away.

And just like that he had his plan.

"Weiss, how long do you think you could keep freezing that things back?" asked Jaune as Weiss landed next to him.

"I don't know why you're asking a question like that but I suppose I could do so for quite a while. Why do you ask?" answered Weiss, brushing off specks of dirt from her skirt.

"Because I'm going to melt that ice, then you'll freeze it again, and we'll keep repeating the process until we force that mark on its back to break even more." Replied Jaune

"Not that I want to question your plan Jaune but how will that cause the crack to break more?" asked Ruby as she finally stopped fussing over her damaged weapon.

"Because when water freezes it expands." Responded Pyrrha as she disengaged from the scorpion for a breather, having been given the chance due to the deathstalker focusing on shattering the ice on its back. "And if water made it into the gash you made when it was frozen…"

"It would cause the bone to weaken." Finished Weiss as she turned to look at Jaune with a strange look on her face, as if she had just seen Jaune in a new light for a moment. "But with armour that thick you would still need a strong blow to truly break through it."

"Leave that part to me!" Butted in Ruby as she brandished her chipped weapon. With a flick of an unseen switch the crescent head of the scythe compacted into the shaft of the weapon. This caused Crescent Rose to look much more like the sniper it was, albeit with an oddly sized barrel. "Crescent Rose may have been declawed but her firing capabilities are still in top notch condition. One round from my baby will punch a hole straight through that weak spot! Besides I wanna get even with the oversized bug for hurting my baby!"

"Then it's settled, Weiss and I will started freezing and melting the ice to create the opening. Ruby climbs up high and gets into a good sniping position ready when the opportunity, Pyrrha would you be able to distract it and keep it busy while we carry out the plan?"

"I think I can manage Jaune."

"Great, then when the opening appears I'll rush in and finish it off."

"And how do you plan to do that! Dare I ask?"

Before Jaune could give Weiss his answer a screech from the Deathstalker broke them from their impromptu team meeting. After deciding that it could deal with the ice on its back when the humans were dead the grim charged forward at the group. All four members split apart, jumping away in different directions.

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT THAT! JUST STICK TO THE PLAN!"

With that call to order the team of four go to work.

* * *

Ruby immediately dashed away from the fight, using her semblance to quickly make her way over to a large stone pillar several times her own height, appearing only as a red streak as she climbed. Once she made it to the top of the pillar which sported a large flat surface to stand on she got herself ready, bracing herself accordingly by kneeling down and lining up the shot on the gash she had made earlier.

Now all she had to do was wait.

As Ruby got into position Weiss and Jaune started their assault. Jaune extended his left hand out towards the overgrown scorpion and snapped his fingers. A small flash of flame from his fingertips signalled a massive explosion of wildfire that ignited from inside the ice on it's back. The fire quickly died out as the melting ice quickly extinguished the flames with all the water it created. A cascade of liquid started to pour off the deathstalker's back but was quickly stopped by Weiss's follow up. As it had done before a white glyph expanded from Weiss's rapier as she stabbed it in the direction of the grim. White streaks sped out from the glyph towards it's bone covered back. With every impact from a white streak ice seemed to sprout upwards, quickly forming large crystals of ice that once again encased the grim's back. Before the scorpion could even register what was happening Jaune clicked his fingers again, causing another spontaneous combustion to occur in the ice, melting the crystals once more. The deathstalker screeched as it zeroed in on Jaune's figure, intent on charging him and stopping whatever he was doing. All it achieved however was running into Pyrrha.

Now Jaune knew that Pyrrha was an accomplished fighter if Weiss's word was anything to go on. He had even seen her fight himself, dispatching the Ursa without a single issue. But the Pyrrha currently holding off the deathstalker now was something that he couldn't even imagine.

The way that Pyrrha managed to handle the deathstalker was like poetry in motion. Every movement made by her was precise but elegant at the same time. Every strike delivered towards her foe seemed calculated, made with such sure fire precision it was like she knew she couldn't be punished for them. Jaune wasn't able to see her entire performance due to having to focus on his own task but the brief snippets he saw were amazing. One that he was particularly fond of was when she purposefully extended herself too far as bait, swinging her sword a little too slowly. The scorpion tried to capitalise by sending its stinger straight towards her, threading the needle between the exchange of fire and ice happening on its back. That was what Pyrrha wanted however as she quickly flipped sideward's away from the attack, and before the chance to pull it back was given she stabbed the orange stinger with her sword. The deathstalker screeched as it pulled the damaged appendage back, sending drops of purple ooze spraying out of the wound. Jaune quickly moved out of the way of some droplets that flew in his direction and took a second to see where they landed. Jaune cringed as he saw the grass that became coated with the liquid hiss as the poison burned it away, leaving patches of dead earth in its wake.

But with Pyrrha distracting and engaging the beast head on, Jaune and Weiss chipping away at it's weak spot with their freezerburn combo (A name Jaune was not planning on using, he just couldn't think of a better name at the moment.) And Ruby perched on her pillar and ready to take the shot, it was just a matter of time before Jaune's plan would bear fruit. But as Jaune clicked his fingers once more he could tell that his fellow students were getting tired. Weiss's icy bolts were flying a lot slower as her energy started to wane. Pyrrha breaths had become audible as she ducked and weaved to avoid her personal assault. And Jaune was all too aware about the fact that he was running out of juice himself. But like a call of an angel, a distinctive crack echoed throughout the battlefield.

The scratch that Ruby had first inflicted had been stressed out immensely, and after all the constant abuse from the elements it had endured it could take no more. What started as a small scratch expanded, spider web cracks fanning out in every direction as they widened the indent on the bone.

Jaune quickly turned to call out for Ruby to take the shot, but as it turned out he needn't have bothered. Ruby had been keeping a close watch on the fight the entire time, patiently waiting for the perfect moment. So when the ice had melted away courtesy of Jaune, she sucked in a deep breath; lined up her aim and squeezed the trigger.

Ruby's claim that her sniper round would punch straight through the amour turned out to be false. Despite the state that it was in the bone plating still proved to be incredibly durable. But that didn't mean the bullet failed in its job

Both bone and lead shattered on impact as the bullet found it's mark. The loud bang of Crescent Rose's rifle was followed closely by a screech of pain as the cracked bone amour and its surrounding area was destroyed from the blow; sending shards of broken bone and globs of black blood high into the air. The deathstalker now sported on its back a sizeable hole in its defence's, exposing soft and tender black flesh it was trying to hide. The wound oozed black ichor that mixed with the leftover water still on its back, somewhat painting bone armour the same black as its flesh.

Understandably the deathstalker didn't take kindly to the red human shooting at its back. With a roar it forced Pyrrha away with a swing of its claws. Once it had obtained the space it needed it reached over to a small boulder belonging to the ruins they currently fought in. Gripping the ursa sized boulder it reared back it's right pincher before launching it at Ruby with a surprising amount of power and precision. Ruby had not been paying attention to the deathstalker while it did this due to pulling back Crescent Rose's bolt to ready another shot. So when she looked into her scope and saw the flying hunk of rock heading her way she had only a couple of seconds to brace herself. The boulder smashed into the pillar, causing Ruby to wobble and shake as she tried to maintain her balance. Her efforts were in vain however as the pillar was too weak to survive the impact. The stone base cracked, causing the whole thing to fall with Ruby on top.

As Weiss moved to help her partner; springing forth from one of her glyphs that appeared from her feet Jaune set his glare at the grim. With a determined look etched on his face his tired body starting sprinting towards the scorpion. With a shout given to his partner Pyrrha locked eyes with Jaune for just a moment. No other words were exchanged as he charged forward but Pyrrha seemed to understand exactly what Jaune wanted. Quickly facing Jaune she knelt down and raised her shield at an angle, the perfect position for a springboard. As Jaune's feet connected with the round shield Pyrrha pushed up as Jaune pushed down to jump. The resulting leap would of made a rabbit faunus proud as Jaune cleared the pinchers with ease, landing straight onto the back of the deathstalker.

Unfortunately Jaune's landing wasn't as perfect as he had forgotten about the water from his earlier efforts. The wet surface he landed on caused him to slip; dropping his sword to the floor and only saving himself from falling off by grabbing onto the edge of the broken section of bone plating. Not comfortable with the idea of the blonde knight riding on top of it the deathstalker started to try and shake him off. Jaune grit his teeth as the shaking from side to side became more violent, threatening to break his grip with each move. But just as his fingers had started to fail him the shaking seemed to calm down. Jaune looked over the head of the deathstalker and understood why.

The sight before him showed Weiss crouched down on the floor in the middle of an extra-large glyph. Her rapier was stabbed into the ground and from the metal ice seemed to spread over the ground, making its way up to the deathstalker. Each of it's eight legs were being held in place by a cover of ice, freezing any movement it attempted. But it was clear from the strain of Weiss's face that this was not something she could maintain for long.

"Would you hurry up with whatever it is you're trying to do!?"

Jaune quickly regained his wits and took advantage of the opportunity Weiss had presented him. Rising to his knees Jaune looked over the side of the grim to try and find where his sword had fallen to. A quick call of his name had Jaune look to his right to see Ruby standing next to one of the scorpion's frozen legs; her clothes looking a little more ruffled than normal but otherwise ok. In her hands was his fallen sword, hilt facing towards him. Reaching down and grasping Crocea Mors with his free hand Jaune raised the blade high into the air, gave a cry of effort and plunged the blade straight into the black flesh.

The noise the deathstalker made put all its previous screeches to shame, overruling any sound that tried to compete with it. A part of Jaune started to feel sorry for the grim as he twisted the blade in a little deeper. The deathstalker had never experienced such pain before. Even when it had been the size of a regular scorpion nothing had hurt this much before, and from deep within the pain brought to the surface a survival instinct that the grim had forgotten it possessed.

And with this instinct came a second wind of strength.

Weiss suddenly gasped as the legs that she was holding down became twice as hard to control, her icy grasp cracking as the grim's legs started to break free of her control. Weiss tried to maintain control, spending more energy to form more ice to replace what had broken. The effort lasted just a couple of seconds as another sudden burst of strength shattered the ice, causing Weiss to recoil from the backlash and fall on all fours as control was ripped from her. Now unburdened the scorpion restarted its attempts to shake off its unwanted passenger. Jaune not expecting such a sudden jerk was lurched sideways, only just grabbing onto the hilt of his sword to stop himself faling. As Jaune tried to regain his footing on the deathstalker's back a looming presence seemed to crawl up his back. Turning his head allowed him to see the scorpion's stinger, still dripping poison rearing back. Without a proper way to defend himself Jaune could only stare in horror as it's orange point began closed in for the kill.

Thankfully it never got close enough.

For the second time today Jaune's eyes were graced with a glimmer of bronze flying through the air, curving in its path like a boomerang. The familiar round shield of Pyrrha's spun like a saw blade as it collided with the stinger mid strike, cutting into the joint where the stinger connected with the large segmented tail. Unlike Ruby's earlier attempt of imitating a buzz saw Pyrrha's worked like a treat. The spinning metal cleaved the bulbous stinger clear from the tip of the tail, causing said implement to get knocked off its stinging course. The natural weapon bounced onto the ground, flicking specks of purple poison with every bounce before coming to a stop a few feet from the battlefield. The tail itself was left swinging around in obvious pain; squirting black goo from the tip like a runaway garden hose.

The sudden loss of its tail had caused the beast to momentarily stop it's rodeo act, giving Jaune a prime opportunity to implement the last part of his plan. Gritting his teeth as he rose to a kneeling position and once secured he opened his left hand and focused his energy into it. A sudden hum sounded as the veins underneath Jaune's hand started glowing a faint electric blue. Within a couple of seconds the glow intensified until his fingertips began sending small bolts of electricity between themselves. This energy kept growing in power until his whole hand started arcing, as if his hand was containing a thunderstorm inside. With his hand prepped and ready Jaune shouted to the deathstalker…

"Time for a variation on the old 1, 2, Punch!"

And grabbed the blade of his sword.

Now Jaune had known the idea was a rather stupid one. He knew that riding the Deathstalker while he shocked it would mean he would receive the shock himself. Not to mention grabbing the blade of a sharp sword was not recommended at the best of times. Jaune had banked on the fact that his "natural" resistance to electricity would be enough to negate the pain he would receive. What he didn't take into account was that the back of the Deathstalker was rather wet due to the leftover water from the ice and the blood from the sprinkler of a tail flailing about. Now Jaune wasn't sure how conductive grim "blood" was… But water was well known for it.

As soon as his hand touched the embedded blade a harsh crackle thundered as blue arcs of electrical energy covered both boy and beast. Both bodies shook like leaves in a storm due to the raw power of the current coursing in their veins. Loose branches of lighting struck out looking for something else to arc to before returning to the electrically charged bodies. The deathstalker let loose screeches of pain, all of them garbled and distorted because of the electricity flowing through what passed for a voice box inside it's body. Jaune wasn't faring much better as the only reason he wasn't screaming in pain was because his aura was working overtime to help block out the pain. But Jaune couldn't let up on the voltage. He had to make sure that the grim died or else he would put his friends and Weiss in danger. So he would bare the pain for as long as it took, and nothing was going to stop him!

CRASH!

Unless his aura broke, then he was in a bit of trouble.

The sound of a glass window shattering pushed past all other noises and sensations in Jaune's head and for a split second he felt nothing. This sensation of nothing lasted until he realised what had happened and with the realisation came the pain; back with intensity he had never felt before. His own scream of pain joined the garbled mess that was the deathstalker's as the current hit him without his aura softening the blow. Jaune lasted only a couple seconds more before he could last no longer. With great difficultly he released his grasp on the blade; cutting off the stream of voltage flowing between them and leaving Jaune a shaking mess as he knelt on the deathstalker's back. The constant shaking combined with the fact that he could barely control his movements caused Jaune to lose his balance and fall of the scorpions back, bouncing slightly as he hit the dirt floor below.

As Jaune laid in the wet, grim blood soaked ground his right hand shakily reached to one of the pouches along his belt. Struggling with the clip for a brief moment he unlatched the pouch, causing its glowing contents to fall out. He grabbed the blue syringe and slowly reached over to his other arm, the movement painstakingly slow as he fought his own shaking muscles. With a practised ease he lined up the syringe with his wrist, easily finding his preferred entry point. Waiting for a break in the tremors he plunged the needle into his wrist giving a small grunt as the only acknowledgement of the deed. As he pressed the plunger down immediate relief filled his veins as the eve took effect, restoring a portion of energy and easing the pain his nerves were feeling. As the last drops left the needle and entered his veins the shaking finished, leaving a tired Jaune exhaling a breath as he lay on the ground. With its contents spent Jaune returned the needle back into the pouch, just as Ruby appeared from around the deathstalker in a stream of petals.

"Jaune are you alright?! We heard you scream and you looked like you were in so much pain and then you just collapsed off the side and we were so worried…"

"Ruby relax, I'm fine. I just overestimated how much aura I had left. No lasting damage see?"

Ruby didn't look that convinced as Jaune tried to prove how alright he was. It may have been because Jaune made no move to sit or stand up from his position on the ground, which left Jaune laying in a slightly muddy puddle filled with black coloured water. What also didn't help was that his hair was still standing up on end and the fact his eye's seemed unfocused as he stared into the sky. Thankfully before Ruby started worrying even further Pyrrha joined Ruby by her side as they both stared at the live cadaver on the floor.

"Well that was certainly a different way to kill a deathstalker Jaune. Is this going to be a normal thing or will you try to kill grim more conventionally now?"

"I'd like to think that this was a onetime deal but my gut's telling me to not get my hopes up. Or I'm just feeling nerve damage, hard to tell."

"Well is your gut telling you that you should get up? Because you're lying in a muddy puddle filled with grim blood at the moment."

"I would like to yes but I'm not sure my legs would listen to me at the moment if I decided to try and do so."

"Do your arm's still listen to you?"

At the nod of confirmation from Jaune Pyrrha stuck a hand out for him to grab. As soon as he reached out and grasped it he suddenly found himself yanked upwards. A moment of panic hit him as he tried to ready his legs to start working but was relieved to find they responded with no issues. Giving a nod in thanks to his partner who beamed back in response Jaune turned his attention over to the deathstalker.

The once intimidating figure now stood still as a statue as Jaune started circling his handiwork. The many eyes that had stared at him in hate had muted in colour, leaving lifeless orbs in their place. The red lines that had decorated the bone plating were muted as well, joined by the stains of black form the scorpion's own living juices. The once proud tail lay slumped to the floor, no longer leaking its black discharge. And to top off the image Crocea Mors sat on the top of it's back, proudly displayed as the killer of the beast. Jaune took his time marvelling at the corpse of the deathstalker, silently breathing a sigh of relief when the black smoke started rising from its body. Despite its huge size the corpse didn't take long to evaporate away, completely disappearing in a couple of minutes. The only trace of it existing being the patches of dead grass left from the poison it's stinger created. As the last of the black wisps floated away a clatter sounded as the grim slayer itself hit the floor, its meaty sheathe having vanished into smoke. Jaune picked the blade up, giving a quick swing before collapsing his shield and sheathing the sword into it's true home.

"Well I call that a successful initiation test don't you guys?"

"If you call nearly getting impaled by a poisonous stinger, frying yourself with electricity, almost falling into a ravine and getting showered in black goo then yes. This was a marvellous test where we passed with flying colours!"

Jaune turned at the sound of the obviously angry Weiss and had to hold back a snort that nearly broke free. The white colour scheme that Weiss had been was now tainted with large amounts of black due to the grim blood staining her clothes, making her look like someone had dumped a drum of oil on her. That wasn't to say that she was the only one that had suffered, both himself and Ruby sported splotches of black due to the deathstalker's blood. Pyrrha seemed to be the only lucky individual as she was spotless apart from a few drops on her shield.

 _"Actually that's a thought, shouldn't the blood have disappeared by now? Or has the deathstalker decided to be petty in death and had its blood stain our clothes? That second one seems more likely…"_

At Weiss's furious stare aimed at him (no doubt blaming him for her ruined outfit) Jaune decided to take responsibility...

And pass the buck onto the truly guilty person.

"Now to be far I wasn't the one that set off the tail like a sprinkler system. That's on Pyrrha."

"Sorry!"

"Don't apologise for this idiot Pyrrha! The only reason you did that was to save this buffoon from being impaled!"

"And it worked out in the end right? Besides it's not like you're the only one that got covered..."

"Does your jumper cost thousands of lien to replace?! It's not like you can't find a replacement for it. Where did you get it in the first place? The bargain bin at a charity store?"

"Don't you talk about my jumper like that…" Jaune muttered quietly as he started staring Weiss down for that comment, a stare down that Weiss didn't cower from as she matched his gaze.

Before the argument became any uglier Ruby was quick to jump in between the two, a nervous expression on her face as she tried to break up the fight before it started.

"Guys you don't need to fight! We just proved how well we worked together as a team! Do you guys really want to ruin our win?"

The staring continued for a few seconds before Weiss scoffed and walked away, leaving Jaune to awkwardly apologise to Ruby.

"Sorry Ruby you're right. We shouldn't SULLY OUR VICTORY with PETTY COMMENTS AT EACH OTHER!" answered Jaune, shouting over to where Weiss had wandered to for parts of the apology. "What matters is that we all made it out in one piece; we killed a massive threat to any future students taking this test. But most of all we beat our monster faster than your sister's team did theirs!"

"Oh no Yang! Jaune we have to go help her! We've been messing around while she could be in serious trouble! Who knows what that oversized sack of feathers is doing to my sister!"

"Don't worry Ruby, I think your sister and her team have it covered…" butted in Pyrrha, her hand acting as a visor for the sun as she spied over to the stone ruins standing tall into the ravine.

Jaune joined Pyrrha as they watched the giant black bird flying around the stone ruins. Amongst the stone pillars and bridges he could see the four remaining members of the entourage grouped together. Looking at the state of the battlefield it was clear that their fight had been a hard one. Large black feathers littered the pillars, bridges and supports as if someone had sliced a giant gothic pillow open. The nevermore itself also showed battle damage as it's face plate bore fresh scratch marks. It also seemed that one of its legs was broken, the limb bent at an odd angle compared to its brother on the other side. Despite this the nevermore seemed just as deadly as it tucked in its wings and tried dive bombing the group, forcing them to disperse.

Jaune saw that the group had split into two. The more colourful pair consisted on Yang and Nora, both climbing a different stone pillar with what looked like a black ribbon held between them. As both of them reached the top of their pillars the nevermore shrieked as it made it's way back for another pass. Unfortunately in got too close and so the girls sprung their trap.

The girls jumped off theirs pillars as the nevermore passed between them. The thin ribbon Jaune had expected to break instead constricted around the avian grim as the counterweights on each side spun around the body and restricted the birds wingspan like a makeshift bola. After a couple of spins both huntresses stopped and pulled hard as they stood on the bird's back, stopping any ability the nevermore had of flapping it's wings. With no choice in the matter the raven grim started falling in a nosedive. It did however have enough control to at least guide its descent so that it landed on the cliff instead of falling into the ravine, sailing over the heads of the spectators watching its own demise. Its beak hit the ground first, causing a furrow to form as it ploughed its way through the ground. As it lost its momentum Jaune saw two figures jump of the back of the grim, two figures that Jaune hadn't noticed latch on.

Ren and Blake quickly dismounted their fallen ride, leaving Nora and Yang to maintain their grip on the ribbon restraining the grounded bird. They wasted no time in running up to the birds neck, Blake dodging a desperate snap from the grim's beak as it tried to quickly swallow her. As they both rounded to the head they each pulled out a weapon identical with each other. With a simple design of a bright green handgun with a large blade hanging from the tip of the barrel the muzzles flashed as they peppered the head with shots. They didn't do much other than cause the raven to tilt it's head up, causing its neck to become exposed. Exactly as planned.

With the neck presented as such an open target both students lunged forward, quickly reaching the feathery muscle. Turning the points of the blades inwards the weapons pieced the black down, invoking a squawk from the grim. Without giving any time to react both blades were dragged across the bird's neck, carving chasms into the flesh as black ichor flowed soon after. The raven had barely realised what had happened before the life left the eye slits on its bony face, leaving the husk to drop its head as it quickly died.

Seeing the wisps of black smoke rise off the defeated grim Jaune felt a gust of wind rush past him as a cluster of rose petals sped towards her sister. Yang had only just jumped down from the raven's back before a sister shaped missile collided into her side, both laughing as Ruby brought them to the floor. Ren noticed the exchange as he received his other handgun from Blake and quickly shut down Nora who had been creeping up on Ren to do the same thing. Pyrrha chuckled to herself as she made her way over to join the group, a reluctant Weiss following behind her so that she wasn't stuck alone with Jaune.

Jaune didn't join his team as they made their way over to the others, content on watching the group interact from afar for a moment. As he watched the sisters joke about with each other, Ren blandly dodging Nora's attempts of recreating Ruby's tackle and his own partner chatting with the rest of the group without a care on her face the stress of the day seemed to melt off his shoulders. With a content sigh he allowed himself to truly relax and let his guard down for just a moment.

"We did it. Both my team and the others have defeated our monsters. Now we have a nice hot shower, a delicious meal and a fluffy pillow and bed waiting for us back at the academy. All we have to do now is… climb back up the cliffside."

Jaune turned back towards the ravine where the battle with the nevermore took place and found himself relieved that (while there was a hole in the bridge leading to the ruins,) the pathway that it offered up the cliffside was still somewhat useable. The battle had left its scars however as some of the stone pillars had been destroyed, whether that was from the nevermore or a stray Nora grenade was uncertain to Jaune. What also littered the ruins was volleys of the large black feathers it had bombarded them with whilst they had been running, some of them piecing the stone so deep he could see the points coming out of the other side of the stone.

 _"It's a good thing that those feathers didn't do much structural damage to the ruins. Although some of those feathers seem to be the only thing keeping parts of the ruins upright. Thank the brothers that those feathers haven't disappeared yet."_

As if that was the signal they were waiting for the black feathers all started to dissolve into black smoke, blanketing the area in a thick black haze. However sections of the stone were now no longer being supported by the load bearing feathers. All it took was one of the pillars crashing into one of the stone bridges as it fell to start a chain reaction. Jaune was joined by his fellow students as they gazed out at the collapsing architecture they helped destroy. Within a minute the last of the wreckage fell into the foggy chasm below. The historical remains of an old civilisation was now rock and dust at the bottom of a ravine.

But Jaune didn't care about that. He cared that the path to the top of the cliff was now gone leaving him and his group with no option but to make a long trek around the chasm in the ground to try and find a good place to climb the cliff.

"Fuck."

Ruby didn't scold him for that one, so he felt that one was justified.

* * *

 **And with that the big bad scorpion is dead. I can't give a deadline for the next chapter as I have only just started working on it.**

 **If you liked the chapter remember to leave a comment saying what it was you liked, the more you do the better I can improve the next chapter.**

 **I'll leave you now with a little something extra. see you next chapter!**

* * *

Roman Torchwick

Opportunity of a lifetime

 _The phrase "opportunity of a lifetime" gets thrown around a lot by people nowadays. Trying to get that big promotion from the boss? OPPORTUNITY! That moment when your big time crush is all by her lonesome? OPPORTUNITY! That offer to study at that prestigious academy in another kingdom! OPPORT… you get the idea. And I admit, when Old Andrew gave me the intern job I was one of those people. I had to strut my stuff more than a peacock faunus to get the guy to notice me of course but it was worth it! But with this latest offer? I have to wonder if it really was the opportunity of a lifetime…_

 _The big guy's been more miserable than usual recently, a meeting gone wrong with a certain headmaster as far as I can tell. Since then he's been muttering to himself, making this big plan that he wouldn't even show me! His supposed prodigy! I haven't been able to do anything about it so I just let it be. But then out of nowhere he approaches me and shows what he's been working on._

 _An honest to god underwater city._

 _Now that sounds like a crock of grim dung but the plans are so well thought out that it's hard not to believe in them. He had it all figured out, the people to invite, the company's to buy out to complete construction, even the location for the foundations under the water! All this out of a couple of days cooped up with himself. And then he asks me if I going to help him._

 _I panicked when he put me on the spot like that, told him I needed time to think. He just gave me this look and said "Don't keep me waiting" and then walked off without a second glance. So here I am, talking to myself about if I should go for a genuine, big as they get "opportunity of a lifetime". I like to think of myself as a bit of a gambling man but that gamble may be too big. Can't imagine it will be easy leaving a city 500 feet under the waves if it all goes south. Its too much of a risk._

 _Then again… what's life without risk? Boring that's what!_


	6. Team Teething Troubles

**Hey there guys. Been a while since I updated this story right? I am sorry for the wait but hopefully it was worth it.**

 **Let's just get straight into it!**

* * *

Jaune's first day started off with him having the life scared out of him by a sharp screeching whistle. Jaune's battle readied instincts got to work immediately, causing him to jump out of his bed and arm himself with the closest weapon so he was valiantly ready to fight the unknown threat!

This translated into reality as Jaune panicking. He fell face first to the floor from the safe confines of his bed, his sheets wrapped around him in a tangled mess like a sleepy time straight jacket. After a couple seconds of embarrassing struggling he rose to his feet wielding the most dangerous weapon he had on him at the time. This just so happened to be the small makeshift doll given by his sisters, uselessly flopping around in his grip like a wet noodle.

After a couple of seconds of spinning around on the spot, ready to whack whatever was attacking with the baseball headed doll he realised that there wasn't a threat to his or his team's safety in the room. After a few more seconds of his eyes refocusing he saw the culprit of his early wake up call. One Ruby Rose, a bright smile beaming and fully clothed in the school uniform. Complete with her signature red cloak flowing behind her.

"Wakey wakey Jaune! It's time to start the first day of beacon life with a bang!"

Jaune's brain took a moment to process the words that came from Ruby's mouth, a couple more seconds passed before his brain came up with the correct response to give her.

"Where did you get a whistle?"

True to Jaune's word a shiny silver whistle was dangling from Ruby's neck on a red piece of string. Jaune gave the accursed item a heated glare, the distorted reflection of Jaune's face in the metal staring back at its creator.

"Oh this is Zwei's dog whistle! I got this after the first one I bought didn't work, stupid thing wouldn't make a noise no matter how hard I blew into it."

Taking a moment to pray for the dog's abused ears Jaune's slowly awakening brain demanded another question be answered

" _WHY_ do you have a whistle?"

"Oh that's my dad's idea! He said that if I was ever in trouble that I should blow my whistle and shout 'STRANGER DANGER!' not sure how that's going to help if I'm in trouble with the grim. The loud noise would only attract them quicker. Anyway Jaune start getting ready! I want to make a team announcement once everyone's dressed!"

With that Ruby walked away, turning her attention to the other girls in the room. The fact that Ruby's father gave his daughter a rape whistle without telling said daughter it was a rape whistle was quickly burned out of Jaune's mind. With a sigh Jaune started rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he turned his gaze to the homemade doll in his other hand. With a mutter of "You're so useless…" he placed the doll back on the bedside table that it had claimed as its perch, returning it to its (worthless) role of bedside protector.

Stretching his arms out in an effort to get a crick out of his back he looked over to his other teammates to see how they fared with the early morning wakeup call. Weiss didn't have Ruby standing over her when the whistle was blown but that didn't mean she escaped the rude awakening. Her usual side ponytail was instead unbound and flowing down her back as she gave Ruby a nasty glare, with said girl completely oblivious to the icy stare sent her way.

Pyrrha however seemed to be a heavier sleeper than the rest of them. Jaune could clearly see that she had only just started to wake up, her movement sluggish and almost non-existent. Funnily enough at some point during the night Pyrrha had wrapped herself up with the duvet, which made her look like a cocoon ready to hatch into the beautiful butterfly that Pyrrha was.

" _Wait where did that analogy come from?"_

Noticing that the other girls weren't making a move onto the room's bathroom yet, (He figured that Ruby had already showered this morning.) Jaune decided that chivalry could take a back seat this morning. He grabbed his wash items along with his uniform and slinked into the bathroom to take his shower while hot water still existed.

* * *

As Jaune washed himself under the downpour that his shower provided he took a moment to focus on the events that followed the end of the test yesterday. After painstakingly making their way up the cliffside back to Beacon (turns out rock climbing wasn't a skill that Rapture prepared him for.) they had been greeted by Professor Goodwitch. Reliving the group of their "relic's" (with Nora very reluctant about handing over Mr Cuddlebuns Jr) Miss Goodwitch lead the group back to the school. The group barely had a moment to catch their breath before they were dragged into the main auditorium.

What happened next was a long and boring speech given by Ozpin before he started listing off the brand new first year teams. Jaune barely remembered anything about the speech, apart from a somewhat morbid joke about how nobody had died in this year's test. As the first names were called out Jaune's brain tuned out completely, He wouldn't be surprised if he had managed to fall asleep standing up during the ceremony. It was only until the last few names when his brain took notice.

"Lie Ren, Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna and Nora Valkyrie. You four were able to obtain the white Knight pieces. From this moment onwards I christen you team Ribbon (RYBN)! Led by Lie Ren!"

Jaune didn't remember much about the ceremony but he did remember the small 'fuck my life' expression that crossed Ren's face as Ozpin announced his leadership position. And to be honest Jaune couldn't blame him. Having to try and wrangle the destructive personalities of both Yang and Nora was not going to be easy. Also the name Ribbon wasn't that great of a name. Too feminine for Jaune's taste. As Ren was glomped by his partner in congratulations a silent prayer went out to his fellow male, wishing him luck in his task.

" _Oh well, better him than me I suppose…"_

"Ruby Rose, Jaune Ryan, Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos! You four were able to secure the white Rook pieces! From this moment on I christen you team Arson! (RRSN) Led by Ruby Rose!"

Jaune didn't register that Ozpin had finished calling out they names straight away. It took him about halfway into Ozpin's follow up announcement to realise that _yes_ , they had just been given a team name that made them sound like a bunch of criminals.

" _Is he seriously not aware that we sound like a team that should be on Remnants Most Wanted?! Can he really call us that anyway? Ruby's last name doesn't even start with an A! No other team has their starting letter not match their word so why does ours?!"_

Jaune's mini tirade was put on hold however as a look to his right showed him his team's reactions to the team layout.

Ruby's face gave away her nerves at being appointed the important position. She seemed to be looking at Ozpin with a _why did you say that_ expression. Pyrrha's however showed a much more caring and supportive image. Pyrrha tried to congratulate her brand new team leader with a firm pat on the back, which nearly backfired when Ruby almost stumbled offstage because she wasn't expecting it. It was Weiss however that had the best reaction. It seemed that she had expected to become the team leader out of the four of them, so when it turned out that she had been passed over for someone that was 2 years younger than her it clearly hadn't sunk in properly yet. Weiss had that _I'm just going to keep smiling as the joke will be over soon_ look to her, a kind of smile that was forced and clearly faked as to not cause a scene. A face that Jaune found rather hilarious.

As for Jaune himself, He honestly didn't care that he hadn't become team leader. If anything he was slightly happy because that meant that a ton of extra work wasn't going to fall on his shoulders. Sure if he had been made leader he wouldn't of complained but he was happy to just go with the flow. Maybe that was because it was what it was used to, taking orders from people was something he had done his entire life. Except that now he had a choice to follow them or not. That still didn't mean that he was happy with the team name.

A rapid knocking on the door broke Jaune out of his memory as someone (Weiss) started reminding him that there were other people that needed the bathroom this morning. Quickly drying himself and changing into the uniform provided by Beacon, Jaune stepped out into the dorm room to take on his first day as a student.

* * *

"Ok troops! As the leader of team RRSN I have decided that the first order of business should be a true team bonding exercise!" Ruby Rose exclaimed as she marched back and forth in front of the small troop she now lead. Said troop tiredly watched her from their position sitting on the one of the freshly made beds. Pyrrha annoyingly seemed fully awake, her shower kick starting her day. Jaune and Weiss however were still half asleep, their tired bags in their eyes clear to anyone that saw them.

"And what, oh glorious leader _*yawn*_ is said exercise? And why was it deemed important enough that we needed to wake up two hours earlier than we have to in order to do it? " Asked Jaune, rubbing sleep from his eyes as for once Weiss nodded her head in agreement.

"Well I kinda woke up really early today as I was a _little_ bit worried about my first day as a leader. So as I'm getting dressed I'm looking around the room and I realise that wow, this place looks really boring!"

Jaune took a moment to look around the room and he had to admit that Ruby did have a point. Now it wasn't to say that the room was bad by any means. The accommodations provided included four not quite single but not quite double beds, each with their own bedside cabinet. The room also came with a couple of bookshelves and wardrobes, a couple of worktables, their own built in bathroom just inside from their front door and even a small kitchenette. But apart from that the room was empty, the walls a plain cream with a grey colour accent on the bottom third of the walls. The room was also devoid of any sort of decorations lining the walls, and apart from a few personal effects already out, (such as the useless dream protector sitting on its perch on Jaune's cabinet.) The room looked very standard and mass produced.

Basically the room lacked any sort of personality.

"So I decided that our first act as team RRSN would be to give the room a much needed personal touch! I mean we all still need to unpack our bags right?"

The groups attention turned over to one of the corners of the room to see the preverbal mountain of luggage still left unpacked. To be fair over half of the cases were a stark white colour adorned with a big snowflake symbol. An obvious indication to who owed them. The group collectively looked over to Weiss, who in turn took a moment before she became aware of the stares she was receiving to respond with a huff.

"Don't look at me like that! I need a lot of spare dust to use my weapon! I probably have just as much actual luggage as the rest of you!"

With a sigh Jaune stood up from his seat on his bed before addressing the room. "Let's just get started. Ruby's right anyway, we'll need to start this sooner or later so let's get it out the way now."

With the rest of the room agreeing the team of four commenced their first mission as a team, no matter how lacklustre said mission was.

* * *

Two hours later into their first mission Jaune was ready to call it a massive success in his eyes. He was pretty sure that the others would agree with him as well.

The four had decided that they should each handle decorating their own area of the room first before asking the others if they needed any help. This meant that Jaune had finished much faster than anyone else. This was because of his general lack of luggage. Apart from some sets of clothes and toiletries Jaune didn't have many personal effects on hand. His personal big daddy had been set on his pillow, guarding the bed for his master's inevitable return. He also placed his personal tape recorder inside his bedside draw along with a collection of tapes to play on it. He did receive some odd stares as he placed an old beaten up monkey wrench on top of the bedside table but was able to wave them off when he said it was "A sentimental item." All in all, Jaune didn't have much.

Thankfully Ruby and Pyrrha didn't take much longer that he had. Both had unpack and decorated very quickly, giving the room a lot more character to it. Posters had been hung up of movies, a band that was very popular called the Achieve men and a classic cat poster proclaiming you should just 'Hang in there!' Ruby had also claimed one of the worktables as her own, spreading blueprints all over the wooden surface detailing plans for upgrades to her baby. Pyrrha meanwhile had placed a mannequin head by her bedside that housed her tiara when not on her head. She also placed a small armour polishing station ready to start maintenance when her armour became scratched

Weiss on the other hand was the polar opposite. Now true to her word most of her luggage wasn't just clothes upon clothes. She still ended up having the most amount of clothes out of the lot of them but that didn't amount to that much more than anyone else. But it truly boggled Jaune's mind at how much dust Weiss had. There was so much of the stuff that one of the bookshelves had to be repurposed into a storage rack for the many vials and crystals. Help was offered to stack the shelves but Weiss turned down the assistance, (with a heated _I WILL STAB YOU_ stare given to Ruby at her offer). The main reason that they ended up taking so long with the decorating was because of Weiss's insistence of having the dust in a certain order. Now Jaune could understand having the same types of dust paired together, but different qualities depending of the fineness of the granules for each kind of dust? That was a little too precise for his patience.

Finally after Weiss had sorted out her industrial vacuum's worth of dust into an acceptable order the group stepped back to examine their hard work. The once barren looking room now looked properly lived in. The dust giving off a glittery effect as light shone off it from the window, which in turn gave the room a sparkle that seemed to bring it to life.

"I think that our first mission was a complete success!" Cried Ruby as she pumped a fist into the air, marvelling at how the room now looked.

"I have to admit, this was a good idea…" muttered Weiss as she joined in on looking around the room. A calm smile forming on her face

"The place does look a lot homier now." Agreed Pyrrha as she gazed out at their hard work

Jaune just gave the room a wide smile before raising a hand to the smaller leader at his side, high fiving the girl on a job well done.

"So what's next oh glorious leader?" asked Jaune, turning fully to the young reaper.

"Well…" started Ruby as she pulled out a timetable of the day's lessons, giving them a quick once over. "Our first lesson today is Grim studies with Professor Port and that starts at 9am. So I say we head down to breakfast…"

"Uh Ruby?" interrupted Pyrrha, looking at her scroll. "The time now is 8:50…"

"WHAT!" yelled Weiss as she turned on her leader, her burgeoning smile dying as quickly as it came. "You made us waste that much time on making our room look nice!?"

"But the reason we took so long was because you needed to sort you're…"

"DON'T! I don't want to hear about any of your excuses! I refuse to be late to the first lesson of my beacon career!"

With her piece said Weiss stormed out of the room at a rather impressive speed, a tailing Ruby following after with cries of "Wait for me!" Pyrrha followed, pausing just outside their dorm room to shout that the class was in the other direction before following the pair going the wrong way.

This left Jaune standing alone in the room, looking at the open door with slight disbelief on his face. With a sigh he started jogging out the room after his teammates, shutting the door behind him as he tried to catch up to his team.

" _Well there goes that moment of team bonding. Perhaps a lesson of Grim Studies will help replace the lost progress?"_

* * *

Team RRSN barely made it to their first lesson without arriving late. The bell had just started to sound off as they sat down in their seats. They felt slightly better knowing that their sister team RYBN was just as late as they were, joining them just as class started. The classroom in question was a big lecture hall. Students entered in from the top and filled in seats that lined all the way down to a central flat stage where the professor would conduct their lesson. What was interesting was that the centre stage was quite large, almost the size of a small fight arena. The back wall of the stage was covered with white boards that each had detailed drawings of various grim. As the final bell rings faded away one of the sets of double doors burst open and their professor strolled in.

Jaune's first impression of the man was that he seemed like a hunter that was way past his prime. The man seemed to be coming into the early stages of old age. Greying hair covered his head as well as his face in in the form of a moustache. A moustache so glorious mind you that that hid any traces of a mouth that the man might have had. The man was also overweight, every step showed his rotund belly shake behind the burgundy jacket he wore. As the man walked over to a desk to place down some paperwork he was carrying (passing a metal bust of himself to do so) he turned around to face his class with a speed so quick it grabbed the attention of every student in the room.

"Monsters, demons, prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grim have many names. But to me they go by only one name. Prey. And by the end of your time here at beacon you lot will think of them the same!"

Now the fresh batch of students currently listening to Professor Port weren't properly forewarned about one of the professor's most defining features. Despite Port being an accomplished huntsman with several dangerous missions under his (straining) belt the man was infamously known for another reason.

The man waffled on about his successful hunts _excessively._

Within about 5 minutes of starting the lecture the man was lost in storytelling (The story today? The Big Bad Wolf vs The Bigger Badder Port) and had therefore lost the interest of his students almost immediately. Some, like Yang and Nora decided to try and catch up on lost sleep. Others like Ruby and Blake has decided to entertain themselves in other ways, Like Doodling drawings and reading books behind the official textbooks. There were a few brave souls like Ren, Pyrrha and Weiss who valiantly tried to take notes, faces straining from the effort. (Apart from Ren. Guy knew how to keep a poker face up.)

To Port's credit however, he did have one student enthralled by his tale.

Jaune watched the professor animatedly describe his viscous dismembering of a pack of Creeps, smiling as the teacher acted out ripping open the mouth of one that had clamped down on his arm. Jaune was enjoying himself as he listened to the portly professor's tale of the past. It reminded him of a time where he would just find a safe corner away from danger and just listen to a plethora of recorded messages of people rambling to themselves. A pastime he still enjoyed to this day if he was being honest.

Did that mean he thought the current story was completely 100% true however? Not a chance!

Now he wasn't going to call his teacher a liar, but he would call the man an embellisher. Jaune was sure that the man was _slightly_ exaggerating how deadly the fight actually was to make it a more interesting retelling, not that it did him many favours due to the numerous bored and asleep faces around the lecture hall.

So it was a shame that they were missing out on tips on how to fight the Grim in his storytelling.

"The gang of creeps were quite the wall to get past! But a shot from my good old blunderbuss scattered them quite nicely, allowing me to easily dispatch them!"

" _A group of creeps can be quite the problem. Split them up into smaller groups first for a much easier time._ "

"The head Beowolf charged straight at me while my back was turned, but it didn't account for the cloud of gravel that was thrown into it's eyes! That caused it to lose its balance mid charge and tumble to the ground!"

" _Don't fight fair. The Grim won't give you the courtesy so why should you with them? Use any trick in the book while fighting them."_

The further and further into the story he got the more lessons about fighting grim he found sprinkled into the words. Jaune realised that the stories were just Professor Port's way of teaching his class. It wasn't the best way to do it considering the rest of the class weren't/couldn't pay attention but it was working for himself so Jaune wasn't going to try and change it.

A nudge from his side pulled him away from the story to focus on his team leader next to him. With a smile on her face she showed Jaune a semi crude doodle she had made of the teacher. A more rotund than usual Port was stood back straight inside a basket. Several big 'Blah's were flying out of the man's mouth, the hot air rising and being caught inside a big hot air balloon. The drawing got a small chuckle to escape his mouth before he managed to control himself. Looking over at Ruby's desk revealed that wasn't the only drawing she had made. He particularly liked the doodle that showed port fighting off a horde of grim… by using his gift of gab to send them to sleep.

"And so!" Port exclaimed, breaking Jaune and Ruby's attention away from Ruby's doodles as he finished his story "I pulled my weapon out of the wounded chest of the barrel chested beowolf and swung my weapon straight through its neck! Cleaving off the head and slaying the beast once and for all! I returned back to the village a hero with my head held high!"

"So the moral to take from this? A true huntsman must be honourable! Dependable! And they must have the strength and the smarts to overcome any obstacle! So now I ask you this, who among you thinks that they have what it takes to become one of the huntsman greats?"

"I DO!"

Jaune resisted the urge to jump as Weiss's voice rose to meet Port's question. Weiss's arm had also shot straight upwards so fast it was a wonder that her arm didn't rip out of her socket from the force. Jaune noticed the furious look that Weiss wore on her face as she stared ahead at Port, though it didn't seem like Port was the reason she was furious…

" _I wonder what put her in such a foul mood…"_

"Oh ho! It seems we have a high spirited volunteer willing to give a demonstration for us! In that case Miss Schnee please grab your combat gear and get yourself ready to fight! Meanwhile I will prepare you your challenge."

* * *

It hadn't taken Weiss long to get herself ready. This meant the white heiress had to wait 'patiently' for their teacher to return as he left the classroom to prepare the challenge. Weiss focused on the double doors that Port had walked out of, poised for whatever might come back out. With the lack of a teacher in the room to control it the amount of idle chatter between students rose up, louder than even the moustached teacher had reached.

"So what do you think this big challenge that the Prof's preparing is eh?" Asked Yang as she lent down from her higher seat to talk to her baby sister.

"I bet that teach is gonna ride through those double doors with a pack of beowolfs! And then the lesson will be learning to ride them into battle!" Interjected Nora, leaning down alongside her teammate to give her answer

"I doubt that the Professor will bring in a pack of unrestrained beowolfs to the lesson…" Interjected Pyrrha, trying to not crush the wild hopes that Nora seemed to have about the upcoming surprise.

"I wouldn't put it past him…" Muttered Blake flipping a page over of her now blatantly exposed book, having not moved an inch since Port left.

"Well whatever it is I hope it's more entertaining that his stories. What dad would have given for that kind of snooze material back when you were growing up Rubes." Said Yang, ruffling up Ruby's hair just to annoy her sister.

"First off I don't see why people are complaining about his stories. They were entertaining enough and they had actual lessons inside them if you look hard enough. And secondly wouldn't bringing in live grim while we're unarmed be a bit unsafe?" posed Jaune

"Yeah but it's not like we're not used to it already." Ruby explained as she broke free from her sister's hair ruffling attack. "We started doing the same with grim back in Signal! Didn't you do it at your prep school?"

"Er…"

"TALLY HO CHILDREN!" Exclaimed the professor as he kicked open the doors for his grand return. The sudden action jolted the students back into their seats, including the prying teammates that was asking awkward questions. Jaune gave a quick sigh of relief before returning his attention to the stage, or more specifically at the giant cage Port was lugging into the room.

Pulled on a little trolley was a very large cage that was easily big enough to hold a human inside. The cage itself was covered in a dirty red blanket, which was large enough to cover the cage in its entirety as the professor dragged it into the room. Whatever was in the cage certainly didn't want to be inside, as every couple of seconds the cage rattled as an unseen force crashed against it from the inside. Port positioned the cage on the other side of the room facing Weiss, before walking away to his desk.

"Inside that cage is a grim that you will need to fight. Originally I had a boarbatusk lined up for this lesson nice and ready, however due to certain… 'Complications' I had to put the beast down.

As the teacher reached his desk he took down from its mount on the wall what looked like the man's weapon. A simple in design blunderbuss with a cushioned stock. Said stock also boasted a double headed axe that still allowed Port to aim the blunderbuss against his shoulder. After a practice aim port grabbed the gun just underneath the widening barrel and started his way back over to the cage.

"Now that left me scrambling around to find a creature for today's lesson. Luckily while on the hunt last night I happened to stumble across a herd of these creatures not too far from forever fall. Luring this one away from it's herd was no picnic but I managed to do so and trap it in this cage."

Reaching the cage at this point he reached for the red cloth and pulled it off the cage. It still didn't help in identifying the creature as the inside of the metal bars was coloured an unnatural pitch black.

Small wisps of black smoke filtered from the bars as the rattling of the cage died down.

"Now Miss Schnee. When I unlock the cage you will be on your own. I will be making sure that the beast doesn't try and attack your classmates. I will only step in if I think you truly need it. Are you ready?"

With a simple nod from Weiss the professor positioned himself to unlock the cage.

"Go Weiss! Kick that grim's butt!" Ruby shouted as she leaned over her desk to cheer on her teammate.

"Not now Ruby I'm trying to focus!" Only to be shot down by her cold blooded partner as she readied herself for the fight.

"Alright, Began!"

With a heavy downwards swing of the axe the lock was easily smashed to pieces, causing the cage door to swing widely open. Everyone held their breath as the grim decided to not charge out straight away, rather the creature revealed its glowing red eyes from amidst the black fog. Weiss only tightened her stance in retaliation, narrowing her eyes as she readied herself for the onslaught.

Suddenly the black smoke burst out of the cage at a frightening speed, the smoke screen covering any details about the grim from discernable eyes. Unprepared at not having a clear target to strike Weiss awkwardly stabbed at the black mass while focusing on dodging out of the way of the charge. The sound of scraping bone told of the ineffectiveness of the attack, while Weiss was nearly bowled over from the charging black cloud. Rolling out of the way Weiss looked behind her as the smoke cloud seemed to skid to a stop just short of hitting the back wall. The cloud seemed to turn itself around to face Weiss once again and just for a moment the black haze parted to reveal what was inside.

The beast stood on 4 strong pitch black legs, all covered with spotty bone armour and ending with a white hoof. The horse body that it was imitating was made of pure muscle, the slightest twitch visible beneath the black skin. Bone armour covered larges areas of its flack and sides with large exposed ribs accenting its defences. Its face like most grim was covered with a bone mask. This one resembling a horse's skull that the stallion seemed to wear like a helmet. But its most defining feature was the hair of its mane and tail was replaced with a thick black smoke imitating the hair. This along with smoke coming from just above it's hooves created the smoke screen that covered the mare from sight. It's piercing red glare focused of Weiss before it reared its front legs, a haunting whinny filling the air. The smoke clouded over once again and the horse grim made another charge at Weiss.

Weiss readied herself in a fencing stance as the cloud raced towards her, rapier poised to strike. She steeled her nerve as the looming cloud of black reached closer and closer. Just as the cloud threatened to consume her she jumped to the sides, sinking her rapier into the inky black for a strike. Unfortunately the attack did little to hurt the beast inside as once again the distinct sound of scraping bone was all she received for her efforts.

This kind of exchanges continued to repeat several times. Each time Weiss tried to strike into the cloud she failed in her attack, either by missing her mark or by striking bone once more. Meanwhile the grim was getting closer to running over its quarry with every pass. Something that Jaune was becoming aware of.

" _Her window of opportunity keeps getting smaller with each pass. Meanwhile Weiss keeps repeating her same strategy. Surely she must realise that what's she's doing isn't working right? Or is her pride not willing to admit that she needs to change her approach?"_

Jaune watched the fight between the heiress and grim with a frown marring his features, meanwhile the Professor had started explaining about "Knightmares" to the rest of the class in the background. Now Jaune didn't doubt the Weiss's ability to strike at the stallion's weak points, but if she couldn't see where she needed to aim her precision blow then that skill was useless. So the main problem that needed fixing was getting rid of the cloud of smoke it was obscured with. Something that Weiss wasn't coming up with any on her own. So Jaune decided that he needed to help think of a way...

"Weiss! Blow the smoke away with some wind dust!"

Apparently his team leader was a little ahead of him with coming up with a fix for the problem. Jaune turned his head to see his friend leaning over the edge of her table, her wide sliver eyes starting at her white partner as she dodged another pass of the sentient fog monster. Whatever response Ruby expected to get from her partner was nothing like the pissed off scathing look that Weiss shot back at Ruby.

"Ruby shut up! I'm trying to focus here!"

However it looked like the damage had already been done. Ruby's helpful advice had distracted Weiss enough that she had failed to remember that the grim was relentless with its assault. A quick shout from Ruby was all the warning she received before the horse charged into her, barrelling her out of the way and causing her weapon to fly out of her hands and across the room. Weiss recovered from the hit and run assault by rolling on the ground into a kneeling position. She quickly rose to her feet as she scanned around the room to try and find her weapon. The rapier had flown surprisingly far from the impact, ending up embedding itself into the wooden table of the professor's like a strange parody of the sword of the stone.

Seeing where her weapon had ended up Weiss sprinted over to the table, barely getting a head start on the grim as it started chasing her from behind. Reaching the table Weiss didn't even slow down in her stride as she jumped on top of the table and grabbed her sword with the intent to pull the blade free. She did so with little effort, using the rest of the momentum to back flip off the desk. Just in time for the Knightmare to charge straight through the wooden desk, causing splinters, sheets of papers and the metal bust to fly into the air like confetti.

Ignoring the small whine like cry of "my desk…" Weiss jumped backwards away from the destructive smoke cloud and raised her rapier's blade in front of her face. Spinning the revolving chamber until it rested on a green colour she waited for the grim to pull itself out of the wreckage of the desk. After a moment the smoke cloud whinnied before it charged towards Weiss once more. Stabbing her rapier towards the cloud she spawned a gale force wind to shoot forward. This wind easily dispersed the smoke surrounding the grim, revealing the Knightmare for what it really was. With a target now visible Weiss prepared her lunge, and just as the horse was about to trample her she dodged to the side, sticking her rapier into the knee of one of it's front legs.

The leg buckled as the stallion sped past, the limb struggling to function as the tendons connecting the muscles severed. This caused the Knightmare to awkwardly stumble as it fought for balance while working with one leg down. However the rapier got stuck inside the bulky knee during the pass, causing the sword to be ripped out of Weiss's hand as the horse sped past Weiss. Weiss's face dropped as she found herself without a weapon once again, only this time Myrtenaster was being "wielded" by her enemy.

Without waiting a moment longer the grim turned back towards the heiress and charged, albeit a tad slower due to its dodgy leg. Without a weapon Weiss backed away from the horse, stopping in place as her back foot collided with something on the floor. Looking behind her Weiss's eyes widened at what she saw, but quickly turned around to see that the black stallion had jumped into the air with the intention of landing on top of her. As quick as she could Weiss kneeled down and grabbed what she had nudged with her foot. Then as the beast was about to collide with her she sidestepped out of the way and swung with all her might the heavy metal bust of Port straight into the Knightmare's face.

Now Port spared no expense when it came to matters of the ego. So the solid brass bust turned out to be quite the effective makeshift mace. Add on the fact that despite Weiss being one of the more physically weaker huntresses, she still had more strength that the average non aura wielding person. In short the heavy clang sound vibrated all around the classroom. A collective "oooh…" was given by the students as the beast fell like a sack of bricks from the brutal attack. The horse's face and mask cracked and caved in, the slight indent of Professor Port's visage imprinted on his face. Dropping the now dented bust to the ground Weiss pulled her weapon out of the barely conscious Knightmare's knee. Then stepping back from the downed horse she focused as a familiar glyph spread from beneath her. Twirling the rapier around she stabbed the ground and from the middle of the Knightmare's body sprouted a large imposing spike of ice, cleaving the beast in two. Weiss let out a breath of air as she stored her weapon away, watching as the two horse half's dissolved into black mist while receiving applause from the class. Port made his way over to Weiss once the grim had completely dissolved.

"Bravo Miss Schnee, Bravo. Despite a rocky start you were able to figure out a strategy for how to defeat the beast, striking at a vulnerable point and successfully clearing away the fog. Although next time you participate in a practical lesson for my class leave my bust and table out of it." Said the professor, using his warped bust as a pointer while he gestured to the pile of mahogany firewood his desk had become.

" _ **RING!"**_

"And there goes the bell students! For preparation for the next lesson read pages 1-15 of the Grim habitat textbooks assigned to you! Remember class, stay vigilant!" Spouted Port as the entirety on his class started to pack up and leave the classroom in a hurried manner, lest he start another yarn about his hunting days. Weiss followed suit, leaving the large man to stare at the larger ice spike that currently stood proudly in the middle of his classroom.

"Now how to get rid of you…" could be heard muttered under his breath.

Weiss quickly stormed out of the classroom, blanking any attempt to grab her attention given by her team and RYBN. After ignoring a blatant call form her partner she passed by the rest of her team and friends out into the hallway leaving the group to confusingly look at each other

"What's her deal?" voiced Nora asking the question on everyone's lips.

* * *

"Hey Weiss! Wait up!" Called Ruby as she sped down the corridor to catch up with her partner. Trailing behind her was the rest of team RRSN, a noticeable jog employed to keep up with their leader. Weiss continued down the hallway, not acknowledging her partner up until she zipped in front of her with barely a hair out of place.

"Weiss you can't just ignore your friends and teammates when they call out to you. Especially your leader." Chastised Ruby.

"As if you know anything about being a leader…" muttered Weiss under her breath, trying not to lose her cool.

Unfortunately for Weiss Ruby's hearing for that moment could rival a Faunus, as she heard very clearly what was said. "What's that supposed to mean?" she questioned with a tilted head.

And like that the dam broke, unleashing the raging emotion behind it.

"IT MEANS YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE THE LEADER!" Weiss shouted back, drowning out any other noise around them in the corridor. A couple of people passing by stopped and openly stared at the heiress chewing out her partner. Weiss, completely unaware/uncaring of the audience she had gathered continued her tirade. "Ever since you got here you have consistently proven that you don't deserve the leadership role you have been given!"

Pyrrha, ever the mediator tried to calm the situation down before it got too heated. "We have a bit of free time before next period; let's just discuss this back at the room."

Of course both parties ignored her as Ruby stepped up to defend herself. "That's not true! I do deserve to be leader! Headmaster Ozpin said so!"

"Oh really? Because I can think of at least five reasons off the top of my head that say otherwise!"

Without skipping a beat Weiss starting listing said reasons off of one hand.

"1. You're here two years early, and yet you have the discipline of an 8 year old. 2. One of the first things you did when you landed was cause a giant dust explosion in the school courtyard. 3. You rushed ahead recklessly to try and take on an ancient Deathstalker BY YOURSELF! 4. You nearly got your team late for their first ever lesson and when you actually was in the classroom you decide to goof off and mess around, distracting those around you trying to learn. And 5. You kept distracting me in my fight with the Knightmare which nearly got me seriously hurt, or worse KILLED!

By now the one sided shouting match had drawn the attention of practically every passer-by, the collective of students forming a circle around the dysfunctional first year team that was having a full scale meltdown on the first day. Ruby took the abuse with a stunned look on her face, lips trying and failing to get out a retort against the heiress's onslaught. Jaune and Pyrrha were in a similar state, both not expecting the sudden ferocity on display by Weiss

"I can't believe that a man of Professor Ozpin's calibre could make such a grave error as this but then there is always a first time for everything…"

With a cold look Weiss walked right up to Ruby so her next line could be delivered straight to her face.

"I studied and trained hard to get here and I deserve a better leader than you. Ozpin made a mistake… You don't belong here."

With her point made Weiss walked away from her team, ignoring the crowd of onlookers as they parted like the red sea in her presence. This left the speechless remains of team RR_N to figure out what had just happened. Thankfully Jaune was quick to react when he noticed the crowd of onlookers start to mutter to themselves.

"HEY! HAVEN'T YOU GUYS GOT SOMETHING BETTER TO DO?"

The sudden shout dispersed the crowd, leaving the three alone in the corridor as the last dregs of the other students cleared out. With the hallway to themselves Jaune turned his attention to his team leader to make sure she was alright. What greeted him was a teary eyed Ruby, sliver eyes glistening in the light. A couple of sniffles was the only warning Jaune received before Ruby sped down the corridor in the opposite direction of Weiss.

A useless cry of "Ruby wait!" was thrown before Jaune gave chase, Pyrrha following close behind. The left over trail of rose petals as their only trail marker for the chase. A good couple of minutes following the trail lead them to a crossroads in the corridor, the last petal disappearing before it gave no indication on which direction Ruby had gone.

"Jaune I'll take the right hand side, you take the left!" exclaimed Pyrrha before she shot down her path, causing those in her way to quickly move to the side to avoid being barrelled over. Jaune turned the other way and followed suit, running at a speed that would make a charging bouncer proud. A few minutes of franticly searching the corridors finally bore fruit as he saw the slight remains of a petal blow down from a stairway to his right.

Unfortunately his impressive speed did little to help Jaune when it came to dodging oncoming traffic. Before he could slow himself down he collided with a large figure, sending said figure sprawling from the blow and straight to the floor. Jaune was hardly fazed by the collision, having kept his balance from much heavier blows in the past. Sparing a quick "Sorry…" to the floored figure Jaune turned and sped up the staircase, ignorant of the heated glare given from the ginger haired student behind him he had just 'humiliated'.

* * *

Jaune continued up the staircase for several flights, thankful that his stamina was on point but also cursing the fact Ruby had decided to flee as high as she had. Jaune followed the disappearing trail all the way up to a set of double doors at the very top. Jaune slowed down and carefully opened the doors to see that the trail had lead him up to the roof of the dorm room building. A quick glance around the roof revealed quite the view. From where he was standing Jaune had a clear view of forever fall off in the distance, highlighted by the large expanse of orange. The forest where they had the initiation test was also visible, he could even see the launch pads that flung them. The roof also gave a decent view of the main courtyard, complete with a view of the statue he found yesterday morning.

But none of that mattered at the moment, as he spotted the figure of Ruby sitting down on the edge of the roof. Her legs dangled over the edge, swinging pitifully as she embraced the red cloak around herself for comfort. Jaune made his way over to the bundle of red cloth slowly, as if not to scare her off. When he was standing at the edge next to Ruby he slowly sat down next to her, keeping his eyes outward to the impressive view. A moment of silence filled the air, filled only by the quiet ambient sound of the other students going about their business below.

"You know Ruby, you picked the right spot to run off to..." Jaune said, breaking the silence in an attempt to get Ruby speaking. Ruby ignored said attempt however, choosing to instead keep staring outwards. Jaune tried to get a look at her face to see if she was listening, but the drawn hood of her cloak blocked off her features to Jaune's eyes. A few more moments passed between the two before Jaune tried again.

"Ok look about what Weiss said. You need to realise that Weiss… Is a bit of a bitch." Said Jaune, looking over to search for a reaction to the blatant swear. No response. "You can't let what she said get to you. She was just annoyed that her strategy wasn't working and that you shouted out the answer before she could figure it out herself. That's all." Still no response. Jaune turned back outwards as he racked his brain for what he could say to get Ruby out of this funk. Before he could try again however…

"She said I was a mistake."

Jaune turned his head around at the quiet words spoken from his right. Ruby's covered head turned ever so slightly, revealing her tear stained cheeks and her crestfallen expression. Ruby's watery eyes focused on him as she fully turned around to speak to Jaune.

"Weiss said that Ozpin made a mistake in making me the leader, she said that he made a mistake in letting me attend beacon two years early. Do you think he made a mistake?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself Miss Rose?"

Before Jaune had the chance to answer the question both students became aware of a third individual joining them on the roof. With a 'clink' of his cane following his footsteps both Ruby and Jaune looked behind them to see the headmaster himself, strolling up to the pair with a small smile on his face.

Both students quickly jumped up from their seats at the sight of the headmaster, Ruby quickly taking the time to clear her eyes of tears as Jaune took initiative.

"Professor Ozpin! How did you know we were up here?"

"Despite being such a large school, unheard gossip doesn't take long to spread. So a rumour about a first year student imploding at her partner in the middle of the corridor in front of a rather large crowd was quick to reach my ears. As for finding you up here? This isn't my first year as a headmaster Mr Ryan. Miss Rose was not the first to use this rooftop as a place to hide, and she definitely won't be the last. Now then, what seems to be the problem Miss Rose?"

Ruby took a second to wipe the last traces of tears out of their eyes, sniffling once before steeling herself in front of the headmaster.

"Weiss said that you made a mistake when you made me the leader of the team, when you let me into Beacon in fact. I just need to know… Did you make a mistake?"

Ozpin kept quiet for a moment as he pondered his answer to the question. Both Ruby and Jaune watched with bated breath as they awaited Ozpin's answer. After a couple seconds wait Ozpin delivered.

"I'm going to let you two in on a secret. Every man, woman and child has made a mistake in their life. And will continue to do so for the rest of their lives. To not make mistakes means that you are not human. With this said I think it's right to assume that I've made more mistakes than any man, woman or child who has ever lived, is currently living now, and that will ever live."

" _Wow, he's really bad at these motivational speeches."_ Jaune thought to himself, seeing the downtrodden face Ruby had gotten from Ozpin's encouraging words.

"However! The decision to invite you into Beacon two years early, followed by the decision to make you team leader were not mistakes. Of that I can be certain."

"But how can you be sure?!"

"Simple Miss Rose, I saw CCTV footage of your fight with Roman's thugs. The way you were able to dismantle them was impressive. Not many students of your age would be able to fight on that level. Forcing you to continue at Signal when you would outclass your peers would have been detrimental to your growth as a huntress. As for making you leader? You were one of my first choices from the start."

Without giving Ruby a change to question or argue the point Ozpin raised his hand as he started listing off the other team members.

"Pyrrha Nikos, four time champion tournament fighter. Undefeated in a sanctioned fight and considered one of the most gifted fighters of her generation. Someone of her pedigree would surely make a fine leader. Except fighting skill does not translate to leadership ability. Not to mention all that _singles_ tournament fighting won't train her to be able to fight in a group. Besides, from my brief interactions with the girl she seems more than happy to follow rather than lead."

"Weiss Schnee, the daughter of the Schnee Dust Company. Most likely given private leadership lessons to help prepare her for the role as heiress and for a leadership role. Add in a decent mind for tactics and we should have a pick for leader in theory. Until you realise that Miss Schnee seems to have skipped the 'people skills' part of her lessons, today being proof of that. I believe Miss Schnee would have treated the team like a business, trying to micromanage every aspect of the dynamic. Someone like that will find themselves leading a team into battle, only to find herself alone when she needs the backup."

"So what about me?" Jaune asked, curious as to why he hadn't been chosen for the role. Turning to regard the student in question for a moment, Ozpin finished his explanation as he returned his gaze to Ruby."

"Jaune Ryan. From transcripts claiming average skill and competency comes a student with many a trick up his sleeve and a surprising sharp mind for tactics. In all honestly the choice for who to pick was between the two of you. That was until Jaune showed that he had trouble keeping his temper in check with Miss Schnee. Something that you were able to do Miss Rose."

"That's the reason I was picked? All because I didn't lose my cool with Weiss?!"

"There were other reasons why you were chosen Miss Rose. You tried to keep the attention of your group focused on the task at all times as well as you allowed Jaune to speak up about his plan while adding in parts where it fell short. Besides, there are more…. Personal reasons that Jaune shared with me as to why he didn't become leader."

Jaune looked confused at Ozpin's answer before the realisation kicked in. Thankfully Jaune's lapse in a straight face went unnoticed by Ruby, who was currently looking down on herself again.

"Doesn't matter anyway. Weiss thinks I'm a horrible leader and she won't listen to me anymore…"

Ruby was broken from her self-pitying by a chuckle coming from the headmaster himself, covering his mouth with the coffee mug in his hand.

"Hardly. Miss Rose you seem to forget that you have been an official team for less than a day. Even the most legendary of huntsman teams bickered and fought with each other in their first moments. Including team STRQ."

The name of the team went completely over Jaune's head. But it seemed Ruby understood what Ozpin was talking about as her eyes widened at the revelation.

"Being the leader of a team isn't just a badge of honour you wear into battle, nor is it a sign that you are any better than the others of the team. It means having a frame of mind to always strive to do your best, to tackle any problem with 110% effort. Because if their leader doesn't take something seriously… why should the team do the same."

Leaning down to stare straight into Ruby's sliver eyes Ozpin continued speaking. "Miss Schnee believes you to be a terrible choice for leader because of your previous actions right? Then your answer to the problem is simple. Evaluate what you did that was wrong, learn from it and take your leadership role seriously. Prove Weiss's assumptions about you wrong and you will have nothing to worry about."

Ruby took a moment to reflect on what see was told before a small but serene smile bloomed on her face. This smile morphed into a determined look as she nodded her head to the headmaster's words. Giving a quick "thank you professor!" to the headmaster Ruby sped off over to the double doors in a flurry of petals, the wind blowing the doors shut with a thud. As the last of the petals touched the floor Jaune turned to look at the headmaster with a raised eyebrow.

" _Personal reasons?"_

"If you would like I could just tell Miss Rose that I didn't make you leader because I don't feel I can trust you in such a position. Do you wish me to call her back up here? I could easily do it after all. The scrolls we provide all have their numbers connected to my own…"

"No thanks I'm good!"

With a smug smile Ozpin raised his mug in a farewell gesture before walking over to the double doors himself. As Jaune watched him leave however something didn't sit right in the back of his mind. Just as Ozpin opened the doors to leave the roof Jaune's nagging thought got the better of him.

"Professor?"

Ozpin stopped at the doors, turning around to acknowledge the hail.

"You responded to this really quickly, too quickly. You didn't hear about this from the local gossip did you?"

Ozpin didn't reply at first, the smile previously on his lips now flattened straight. After a 5 second stare down he replied.

"I did hear the details of the incident from other students as I walked the halls. I also got a live screening from the security cameras Miss Schnee choose to explode in front of."

"Why was you following Weiss with the cameras?"

"Not her, Mr Ryan..."

"You were following me…" realised Jaune after his realisation kicked in.

Ozpin walked back from the doors, all pretence of this being a friendly chat gone. "Did you think, even for a second that I would let a unknown and potentially _dangerous_ individual just roam the halls of Beacon without surveillance? Then I'm sorry Mr Ryan but you really oversold your intelligence in those fake transcripts."

"Wait, you know about that?"

"Oh please. It didn't take long to do proper background checks once I had my suspicions. I will admit however that your transcripts were some of the best I've seen in a long time. I'm assuming Junior's work?"

Jaune didn't have to respond, breaking eye contact told Ozpin all he needed to know.

"I'm not surprised. Junior does take pride in the quality of his services. But when you've been doing this for as long as I have, you tend to learn all the tricks of the trade."

"Well if you think that I'm such a danger to you school then why even let me become a student here in the first place!"

At this Ozpin had made his way right in front of Jaune, leaving the two alone on the roof locked in a stare down. Both parties stared intensely at the other, Ozpin bearing a calm visage while Jaune's had a more passionate anger boiling.

"Because I believe that everyone that comes to Beacon to become a huntsman deserves a chance to change their life. A fresh start away from any wrongs they made in the past. To atone for their mistakes and turn themselves into a protector of humanity."

"But that's why I'm here! I came here to do exactly that! I don't have a sordid past to _atone_ for! I just want to become a huntsman so I can protect and provide for my sisters!"

"Then prove it. Let's have that _talk._ "

That one word was enough to calm Jaune down straight away. The red in his face from shouting turned white as the reality of Ozpin's request hit home.

"You… You mean right now?"

"Yes Mr Ryan. If your past is such a standard affair then I'm sure you wouldn't mind explaining to me why you felt the need to apply for my school with fake transcripts? Why despite my best efforts to find out information about you there were no personal records to be found until about a year ago? And the most important question, why are you currently wielding my former and most likely _deceased_ partner's ancestral SWORD!"

Jaune backed away from the headmaster's probing questions as they ramped up in volume. His mind stuttering to think of a solution to his problem. A part of his mind wondered why he didn't just tell Ozpin the truth. This thought was quickly squashed however.

Who said that Ozpin would believe the truth?

After all, the truth here wasn't simply a case of him being an orphan child committing petty thief to survive, the truth was something much more… Unrealistic. An underwater city filled with the greatest minds of a generation, mixed with a genetic gloop that rewrote whatever the brothers gave you that ended up destroying itself through civil war? The ramblings of a drunk homeless man would sound more believable.

And even if he did. Even if the slightest chance of Ozpin believing him existed, was that really a good thing? Jaune's paranoia kicked into overdrive imagining every worst possible scenario coming to life. It would mean that his sister's ran the risk of being experimented on for any traces of Adam left in their system. Scientists would try to replicate the plasmids rapture housed, and if they were released to the public then chaos would ensue. Not to mention that the truth also included how Jaune "obeyed" his father's final wish, and that was why the man was no longer alive…

To Jaune the secrets of Rapture were better off lost to the depths of the ocean it called home. The more people aware of its existence meant a higher chance of Rapture's cancerous influence infecting his new life. A life that he worked hard to provide for his sister's.

He was the only experiment that was allowed to escape that concrete fish bowl. Nothing else.

Because of this, Jaune backed down from Ozpin's test, breaking eye contact while sealing his lips shut. Ozpin started for a moment longer before realising Jaune's stance on the offer. With a sigh that sounded disappointed but not surprised Ozpin took a couple of steps backwards, allowing Jaune some breathing room before Ozpin once again started speaking.

"If you are unwilling to reveal your secrets then I'm afraid I will have no choice but to continue monitoring you Mr Ryan. Until the time you answer my questions and explain yourself."

With that the headmaster turned on the spot and once again made his way back to the doorway leading off the roof. Jaune watched him go. A crestfallen look on his face due to that less than stellar meeting with the headmaster. Ozpin maintained his stride, only stopping to open the set of double doors. But as he was about to walk through the threshold he paused. Without looking back Ozpin spoke up one last time.

"Mr Ryan?"

Jaune's gaze looked up to greet the back of his headmaster, his curious expression unseen as Ozpin continued to stare down the steps.

"I want to believe you have no ill intentions in attending my school. I hope that you are just another student willing to become a huntsman to protect those you love. But your existence raises too many questions and concerns for me to just sweep under the rug."

At this the headmaster turned his head around to stare at the enigma on the rooftop. A solemn expression as he stared his student in the eyes, distance be dammed.

"I am a patient man Mr Ryan. But even I have my limits on how long I can wait. Keep your secrets for now, I will continue to keep track of you until you feel like divulging just who you are."

Ozpin's expression hardened for a moment as he finished speaking. "But mark my words Mr Ryan. I will find out why you have Andrew's sword. Whether you tell me, or I force it out myself."

With his piece said Ozpin passed through the set of double doors, letting them swing to a close as he descended the stairs.

Leaving Jaune all alone on the roof. With nothing but his thoughts as his contemplated whether he made the right choice or not.

* * *

 **So it seems that Jaune is being closely watched by Ozpin.**

 **Makes sense. If someone using your best friends weapon strolled into your school a couple of questions would be raised.**

 **Also I hope people liked the new Grim I introduced this chapter. There will be more Grim like it in later chapters so keep a eye out for them.**

 **As always if you liked what you read let me know with a comment. Their the best way I improve and the best motivation.**


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